


Purple Pipes

by fangirl_250_501



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Badass Female Character(s), Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Character Death, Gen, Marvel Universe, Original Character(s), POV Female Character, POV First Person, POV Original Character, POV Original Female Character, Superpowers, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 29,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25426675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_250_501/pseuds/fangirl_250_501
Summary: Piper Maximoff has had powers since she was 5. For years, she's been a captive of HYDRA, but the Avengers' attack enabled her to escape. Now, along with the Avengers, she must defeat Ultron, and along the way, she might just become a superhero.
Comments: 32
Kudos: 13





	1. Attack on the Base

2015

They call it a mutation. That’s where my powers came from. Genetics. It was the same with Wanda and Pietro, but their powers were unlocked by the Mind Stone. Mine came when I was five years old. The twins were only five months old.

My name is Piper Maximoff. I am 22 years old. I was born with two powers. Telepathy and energy blasts out of my hands. 

You see, Wanda and Pietro volunteered for these crazy experiments. I went after them, and when HYDRA saw my powers, their number one priority was to capture me. Big surprise, they did. My sibling were here willingly. I was a captive.

Honestly, I was grateful that the Avengers attacked. 

“Report to your stations immediately,” A voice said over the loudspeaker. “This is not a drill. We are under attack. We are under attack.” This was my chance. I didn’t want to leave Wanda and Pietro behind, but I had a better chance of saving them if I was with the Avengers. I ran in the direction of the door.

“Not so fast.” Dr. List said, blocking my path. I wanted to blast him to smithereens, but that wouldn’t end well.

“Let her.” Said Strucker from behind me. “Show them what we can do.” Sure I will, I thought sarcastically. I ran outside. I saw Tony, trying to penetrate the base. He bounced off the forcefield. 

“Hey!” I yelled to him. He turned to face me. “Weak spot is right there!” I pointed to the weak spot in the forcefield. He fired at the weak spot, and the forcefield was no more.

“Drawbridge is down, people!” He said. “There’s a girl out here, she helped me out. Someone want to see what her deal is?” I guess he didn’t realize I could hear him. I glanced over and saw Clint fire at a bunker. Then there was a blur, and he was on the ground. Pietro was on the field. Another bunker fired and hit a distracted Clint in the side. 

“Clint!” Natasha yelled, running over to him. The bunker was still firing. “Does someone want to take out that bunker?!” She yelled. I blasted it, and it exploded. Natasha looked kind of shocked. “Thank you.” She said distractedly, still attending to Clint. “Clint’s hit pretty bad, guys. We’re going to need evac.” Suddenly, Thor landed in front of them. 

“I’ll get him to the jet.” He said. Thor picked up Clint and flew away. Natasha walked over to me.

“Alright,” she said. “Who are you?”

“My name is Piper.” I said. “Piper Maximoff. I’ve had powers since I was 5 years old. HYDRA took me when I was 14. I’m 22 now. They unlocked my siblings’ powers. But Wanda and Pietro are there willingly. I wasn’t. Please, you have to take me with you.” Natasha contemplated what she should do.

“We’re locked down out here.” Natasha said into her comm. 

“Then get to Banner for a lullaby.” I heard Steve say.

Natasha looked at me. “Stay here.” She said. I obliged. She then approached the Hulk.

“Hey big guy,” she said. “The sun’s getting real low.” She put her hand into his huge one as he started to calm down. After a few minutes, he reverted to Bruce Banner. Bruce stood up and looked around. He saw me.

“Who’s this?” He asked. 

“A potential ally.” Natasha replied. I guess she made up her mind. “Come on. Let’s go.”


	2. Arriving at Avengers Tower

We were on a quinjet. I guessed we were on the way to the Avenger’s headquarters. The six Avengers kept glancing at me, like they were waiting for me to do something. I decided to read their minds.

Can we trust her? Came from Steve. I guess if Nat approves then…

Shawarma, Came from Tony. I had no idea what that was about. I decided to stop reading their minds.

Natasha was in conversation with Bruce. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Steve walked over to me, followed by Tony.

“So, kid, you want to tell us who you are and why you want to help us?” Steve said.

“First of all, don’t call me kid.” I said. Tony smirked. “And my name is Piper. When I was five, I learned that I had telepathy and that I could shoot these energy blasts out of my hands. When I was fourteen, my parents were killed. My siblings volunteered for experiments at HYDRA. I tried to stop them, and HYDRA captured me for my powers. They unlocked powers inside Wanda and Pietro and tried to learn the secret of mine. Your attack was my opportunity to get out of there.”

“How do we know we can trust you?” Steve asked. Natasha stood up and rolled her eyes.

“I’ll vouch for her.” Nat said. I was surprised. She must have seen it on my face.

“You’re not the only one that has been used as a weapon.” Nat said. After a while, we landed at Avengers Tower. 

“This place is…” I didn’t have enough words to describe how amazing it was. “Awesome.” Nat grinned at me. She, at least, seemed to trust me. 

“Piper.” Steve said. I turned around to see him with a woman holding a small screen. “Can you come with us?” I walked with Steve and the woman who’s name I learned was Maria. 

“We need you to tell us about your powers and your siblings powers.” Maria said.

“I have telepathy and energy blasts, which could be considered a form of telekinesis.” I said. “Pietro has super speed and Wanda has telekinesis and mental manipulation.” Steve raised his eyebrows.

“He’s fast and she’s weird.” Maria simplified. I smiled at the oversimplification.

“They’re going to show up again.” Steve said. 

“Agreed.” Maria said. 

“Maybe I can convince them that you all are the good guys.” I said, although I was skeptical. 

“File says they volunteered for Strucker’s experiments.” Maria said. I nodded in confirmation. “That’s nuts.”

“Right.” Steve said sarcastically. “What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country.” Of course. That’s exactly what he did during World War II.

“We’re not at war, Captain.” Maria said.

“They are.” Steve replied. Maria handed him the tablet and he stepped into an elevator, and I followed him. Maria stayed behind. As the elevator went down, Steve turned to me.

“So.” Steve said, looking at the tablet. “Telepathy and energy blasts?” I nodded. “And you’ve had them since you were five years old?” I nodded again.

“I think I was born with them, but they kicked in five years later.” I said.


	3. The Party

Later that day, Natasha was giving me a tour of the tower. Our last stop was my new room.

“If you’re staying for a while, we can’t just put you on the couch.” Nat said with a smirk. I just nodded.

“Oh, and Tony is throwing a party tonight here for some reason.” Nat said. “You should come.” I hadn’t been to a party since I was 13 years old.

“Sure.” I said. “I don’t really have anything to wear though.”

“We’ll figure something out.” Natasha said. She then left the room.

...

So, a few hours later, I walked towards the sound of blasting music and laughter. I had refused to wear heels or a dress, so I was in nice-ish black pants and a light purple long sleeved shirt that matched the color of my energy blasts. 

There were so many people in the room. Most I didn’t know. I spotted Steve talking to Sam Wilson and Tony talking to James Rhodes, who everyone called Rhodey. I didn’t see Nat, Clint, or Bruce, but I saw Thor approach Tony and Rhodey, who appeared to be telling a story. 

“Boom, you looking for this?!” I heard him say. Tony and Thor stared, unimpressed. 

“Piper.” I heard a voice behind me and saw that it was Steve and Sam. “This is Sam Wilson. Sam, this is Piper.” We shook hands.

“So are you like an Avenger-in-training?” Sam asked. 

“I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do yet.” I replied. Sam nodded politely and they walked away. I saw Natasha bartending. Not sure how she got stuck with doing that. I walked over to her.

“Nice place.” I said. 

“Yeah, it’s Tony’s.” She replied. “We’re just crashing.” I wasn’t surprised that he owned the building. He was one of the richest people in the world. Bruce walked up next to me, but he ignored me and talked to Nat.

“How’d a nice girl like you get a job like this?” He said, tentatively flirting.

“Fella done me wrong.” Nat said, clearly flirting with no reservations. They were clearly a “thing.”

“Ooookay.” I said, and backed up and out of the conversation.


	4. Mjolnir Contest

The party was basically over. The only people left in the building were the whole Avengers team, Maria, Helen Cho, Rhodey, and me. We were sitting around a table on various chairs and couches. We were talking about Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Apparently, you could only lift it if you were “worthy.”

“Oh, it’s a trick!” Clint said.

“Oh no,” Thor replied. “It’s much more than that.”

“‘Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power!’” Clint said in a mockingly deep tone. He switched back to his normal voice. “Whatever man, it’s a trick!”

“Well, be my guest.” Thor said, gesturing to Mjolnir.

“Really?” Clint replied. Thor nodded. Clint stood up and put his hand on the handle.

“Oh this is going to be beautiful.” Rhodey muttered.

“Clint, you’ve had a tough week, we won’t hold it against you.” Tony said. I laughed along with the other Avengers. Clint grabbed the hammer and pulled as hard as he could, but it refused to budge.

“I still don’t know how you do it!” Clint exclaimed.

“Smell the silent judgement?” Tony remarked.

“Please, Stark, by all means.” Clint said. Tony stood up and faced Mjolnir. No way, I thought. Tony grabbed the handle.

“Oh, here we go.” Nat said.

“Never one to shrink from an honest challenge.” Tony said. “It’s physics.”

“Physics?” Bruce said, disbelieving.

“Right,” Stark said. “So if I lift it I then rule Asgard.”

“Yes, of course.” Thor said. Tony pulled, but Mjolnir stayed in its place. “Be right back.” A few minutes later, Tony came back, with his hand in the Iron Man armor. Even with the armor, it still wouldn’t move. Rhodey put on the hand of his War Machine armor, and he and Tony pulled together. No luck.

“Are you even pulling?” Rhodey said.

“Are you on my team?” Tony replied.

“Just represent man, pull!” Rhodey said. Next, Bruce tried and failed. He yelled and almost turned into the Hulk. Everyone tensed, but Natasha just gave Bruce a look and he calmed down. Yeah. Definitely a thing.

Steve got up and walked over to Mjolnir. 

“Let’s go Steve, no pressure.” Tony said. Steve gripped Mjolnir. It moved an inch. The look on Thor’s face was priceless. I read his and Steve’s minds. 

No no Mjolnir don’t do this nooooo, came from Thor.

I can’t let them know I can lift it, came from Steve. So Steve, using his terrible acting skills, pretended he couldn’t lift it. Thor relaxed, and Steve sat back down.

“Widow?” Bruce said to Natasha. 

“Oh, that’s not a question I need answered.” She said. Then everyone turned to me.

“Come on, new girl.” Tony said, smirking. Sighing, I stood up and gripped Mjolnir. 

It was too heavy for me to lift, I could already tell. What made someone worthy anyways? I pulled, failed, and walked back to my seat

“All deference to the man who wouldn’t be king, but it’s rigged.” Tony said.

“You bet your ass.” Clint added. 

“Steve, he said a bad language word.” Maria joked. Apparently, during the raid on HYDRA, Tony cursed and Steve said ‘Language!’

“Did you tell everyone about that?” Steve asked Tony.

“The handle’s imprinted, right?” Tony said, ignoring Steve. “Like a security code. ‘Whosoever is carrying Thor’s fingerprints’ is the literal translation.”

“Yes, well that’s a very interesting theory.” Thor said as the grabbed his hammer and flipped it. “You’re not worthy.” We laughed, and suddenly there was a loud screeching noise. We covered our ears. It died down, and a voice spoke.

“No. How could you be worthy. You’re all killers.” The voice came from a mangled robot standing a few feet away from us.

“Stark?” Steve said, and he and Tony seemed to have a silent conversation.

“I’m sorry, I was asleep. Or… I was a dream.” It said “There was a terrible noise and I was tangled in… strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy.”

“You killed someone?” I said. What was this thing?

“Wouldn’t have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we’re faced with ugly choices.” It replied. 

“Who sent you?” Thor said. Suddenly a recording of Tony played.

“I see a suit of armor around the world.” The recording said. Oh god. What did Tony do?

“Ultron!” Bruce gasped. 

“In the flesh.” Ultron said. “No not yer. But I’m ready. On a mission.”

“What mission?” Nat asked.

“Peace in our time.” Ultron said. Suddenly, the Iron Legion, which I guess was under Ultron’s control, flew out and attacked us. Natasha grabbed Bruce and rolled behind the bar. It would be pretty messy if he turned into the Hulk. She ushered him up the stairs. One of the robots caught sight of them, but I blasted it before it could do anything.

“Go!” I yelled. Since Tony and Rhodey didn’t have their armor, I was pretty sure I was most effective against these things. I blasted any of them that were in range. I saw one of the robots fly away with Loki’s scepter, but I couldn’t worry about that now. 

Tony was trying to shut down one of the robots. It was malfunctioning and kept saying “We are here to help.” Clint picked up Steve’s shield and threw it at one of the robots, disabling it. I blasted one, and then the only one left was Ultron himself.

“That was dramatic.” He said. “I’m sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn’t think it through. You want to protect the world but you don’t want it to change. How is humanity saved if it’s not allowed to evolve. With these? These puppets? There’s only one path to peace: The Avengers extinction.” Thor threw his hammer at Ultron, destroying him.


	5. Everyone Gets Mad at Tony Stark

We were in the lab, trying to figure out what to do. 

“All our work is gone.” Bruce said. “Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch.”

“He's been in everything.” Natasha added “Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other.” That made me nervous. How much did he know? And what else could he access?

“He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?” I said.

“Nuclear codes.” Maria said.

“Nuclear codes.” I confirmed.

“Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can.” Rhodey said.

“Nukes?” Nat said. “He said he wanted us dead.”

“He didn’t say dead, he said extinct.” Steve corrected. Extinct. No more heroes, no more Avengers. No one to protect the world.

“He also said he killed someone.” Clint said. I had forgotten about that. Who was dead? I dreaded finding out. And yet... everyone was at the party. By the time Ultron came, most of the people were gone. Who could he have killed?

“But there wasn’t anyone else in the building.” Maria said, voicing my thoughts.

“Yes there was.” Tony said. He brought up a 3D image of the consciousness of Jarvis, his AI assistant. It was mangled and nearly destroyed.

“This is insane.” Bruce said. I agreed. Why did Ultron need to hurt Jarvis. It didn’t make sense. 

“JARVIS was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense.” Steve said. It was like everyone else could read my mind, because they kept answering questions and saying things that I had been thinking. Maybe I was projecting my thoughts to them. I couldn’t worry about that now, but I would deal with it later.

“No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage.” Bruce said. Suddenly, Thor came in, grabbed Tony by the neck, and hoisted him in the air.

“It’s going around.” I muttered, referring to the rage Bruce was talking about.

“Use your words, buddy.” Tony choked out. 

“I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.” Thor said threateningly.

“Thor!” Steve said. Thor finally put Tony down. 

“Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again.” Thor said, still glaring at Tony.

“The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron.” Nat said.

“I don’t understand.” Helen said. “You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?” And then Tony started laughing. 

“You think this is funny?” I said incredulously.

“No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? It's so terrible.” Tony said. The amount of sarcasm was more than I had heard in most conversations. 

“This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand.” Thor said.

“No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this.” Tony said.

“Tony, maybe this might not be the time to-“ Bruce began.

“Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls.” Tony interrupted.

“Only when I’ve created a murder-bot.” Bruce retorted.

“We didn’t.” Tony said. “We weren’t even close. Were we close to an interface?”

“Well you did something right.” I said. Did Tony not realize what he did? He created a robot that wanted to destroy humanity. I really didn’t think he understood the gravity of the situation. I wanted to have faith that he wasn’t the heartless person that Wanda and Pietro thought he was, but as he kept ignoring the situation…

“The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHEILD.” Steve said. 

“Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?” Tony said. I really didn’t like the way he was trying to say Hey, I created an evil robot, but I’ve done so many great things in the past. 

“No, it’s never come up.” Rhodey said sarcastically.

“Saved New York?” Tony continued.

“Never heard that.” Rhodey said. 

“Recall that?” Tony said. “A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's...that's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?” A long silence followed.

“Together.” Steve said. 

“We’ll lose.” Tony said.

“Then we’ll do that together too.” Steve said. Tony turned away, and Steve continued talking. “Thor’s right. Ultron’s calling us out. And I’d like to find him before he’s ready for us. The world’s a big place. Let’s start making it smaller.”


	6. The Strongest Metal in the World

We searched for Ultron, but whenever we went to one of his crime scenes, he was already gone.

At one point, Steve, Maria, and I were walking together, and Maria was giving us an update.

“He’s all over the globe.” Maria said. “Robotics labs, weapon facilities, jet propulsion labs. Reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place.”

“Fatalities?” Steve said.

“Only when engaged.” Maria said. “Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and something too fast to see.” My throat tightened. Wanda and Pietro were working with Ultron. Steve glanced at me.

“Well, that makes sense he’s go to them, they have someone in common.” Steve said. 

“Not anymore.” Maria replied. She handed me a tablet with a photo of Strucker’s dead body. On the wall, painted in blood, was the word PEACE. 

We met in one of the labs immediately afterwards to discuss this. 

“What’s this?” Tony said, referring to the tablet.

“A message.” I said. “Ultron killed Strucker.” Honestly, I wasn’t sad to hear that Strucker was dead. He experimented on me, used me. But in this way… 

“And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us.” Tony said. How the hell was he still cracking jokes?

“This is a smokescreen.” Natasha said. “Why send a message when you’ve just given a speech?”

“Strucker knew something.” Steve said. “Something that Ultron wanted us to miss.”

“Yeah I bet he…” Nat trailed off, looking at her computer screen. “Yep. Everything we have on Strucker has been erased.”

“Not everything.” Tony said, looking at me.

“What?” I said. “I don’t know anything. I was a prisoner, remember. Don’t you have any non-digital information?” How odd. Usually it was their generation telling mine to not rely on electronics.

We got out all of their files on Strucker and flipped through to see what we could find.

“Well, these people are all horrible.” Bruce said. I agreed. Arms dealers, criminals, the works.

“Wait, I know that guy.” Tony said, grabbing a file from Bruce. It was on Ulysses Klaue. “From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms.” We all gave him a look? How exactly did he know this. “There are conventions, alright.” Tony said. “You meet people, I didn’t sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer.”

“This.” Thor said. He was pointing to a brand on the back of the Klaue’s neck. 

“It’s a tattoo.” Tony said. “I don’t remember him having it.”

“No, those are tattoos.” I said, pointing to his other ones. “That is a brand.” Bruce looked up the brand on this scanner.

“Oh yeah.” He said. “It’s a word in an African dialect meaning their, in a much less friendly way.”

“What dialect?” I asked.

“Wakanada?” Bruce said, struggling to pronounce it. “Wa… Wakanda.” Tony and Steve exchanged an alarmed glance.

“If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…” Tony trailed off.

“I thought your father said he got the last of it.” Steve said.

“I don’t follow.” Bruce said. He wasn’t the only one. “What comes out of Wakanda?” Tony glanced at Steve’s shield.

“The strongest metal in the world.” He said.


	7. I Fight My Evil Siblings

We had arrived at Klaue’s location. Bruce stayed in the ship, because the Hulk could make things messy. Nat and Clint entered through the back, and the rest of us went to confront Ultron head on. I heard him say “Don’t compare me to Stark! He’s a sickness!”

“Aw, junior.” Tony said. “You’re going to break your old man’s heart.” Ultron turned, and I realized Wanda and Pietro were with him. Pietro’s eyes widened when he saw me.

“If I have too.” Ultron replied to Tony.

“We don’t have to break anything.” Thor said.

“Clearly you’ve never made an omelet.” Ultron said. I didn’t get what omelet making had to do with anything.

“He beat me by one second.” Tony said.

“As, this is funny, Mr. Stark.” Pietro said. “Its what, comfortable? Like old times?” He had such an anger in his voice.

“You don’t know what you’re doing.” I said.

“And you do?” Wanda said. “You, helping the Avengers of all people.”

“I know you’ve suffered.” Steve began.

“Ugh!” Ultron said. “Captain America. God’s righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can physically throw up in my mouth but…”

“If you believe in peace, then let us keep it.” Thor said. 

“I think you’re confusing peace with quiet.” Ultron said. And in some sick way, he was kind of right. 

“Uh-huh.” Tony said, not at all convinced. “What’s the Vibranium for?”

“I’m glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan.” Ultron said sarcastically. Then, a bunch of Ultron-robots came and attacked us. I let the rest of the Avengers worry about that. I had to get to my siblings. Wanda went somewhere else, leaving me facing Pietro. I had a feeling he didn’t really support Ultron. But Wanda did, and he wanted to protect her. 

“Pietro, you know this is crazy.” I tried to reason with him. We were both in a fighting stance, but neither of us made a move.

“I stay with Wanda.” Pietro responded. Then, in a blur, he ran off. I cursed, but I was then distracted by a group of Ultrons that attacked me. I blasted them, and then I sensed something telepathically. 

I was stupid! I should have been looking for Wanda. I should have known Ultron would use her fear-inducing powers.

Steve, Thor, and Natasha were all seeing something, seeing their worst fear. Clint had somehow managed to stop Wanda, and she and Pietro were nowhere to be seen. Neither were Bruce, Tony, or Ultron. 

“Piper, what did she do?” Clint yelled as he was helping Natasha up. He was worried about her, I could tell.

“She made them see their worst fears.” I replied. That did not seem to calm him down. I couldn’t blame him. We heard Tony’s voice through our comms.

“Natasha, I could really use a lullaby right now!” He yelled. Oh god. Wanda must have shown Bruce his worst fear, causing him to be the Hulk crazier than the Hulk usually is. There was a city nearby, and if the Hulk got there…

I pushed those thoughts aside as I scanned the minds of Steve, Thor, and Natasha. I tried to remove the visions, but whatever Wanda did was too powerful for me. 

“That’s not gonna happen.” Clint said in response to Tony. “Not for a while. The team’s down, you got no back up here.” I opened my mouth, about to say that I was backup, but Clint shook his head. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t say anything. 

…

We were on the quinjet. I didn’t think we were actually headed anywhere, just flying around. 

Bruce- no, the Hulk- had nearly destroyed the city. Now, it was all over the news. Thor, Steve, Natasha, and Bruce were still extremely shaken up from their visions.

Maria was talking to Tony over the pone. “The news is loving you guys.” She said. “Nobody else is. There’s been no official call for Banner’s arrest but… it’s in the air.”

“Stark Relief Foundation?” Tony asked.

“Already on the scene.” Maria replied. “How’s the team.”

“Everyone’s… we took a hit. We’ll shake it off.” Tony said. This was Wanda’s fault. I couldn’t stop feeling guilty about it, even though it wasn’t me who put the visions in her head.

“Well for now I’d stay in stealth mode, and stay away from here.” Maria said.

“So we run and hide?” Tony said with distaste.

“Until we can find Ultron, I don’t have a lot else to offer.” Maria replied.

“Neither do we.” Tony said. He switched off the phone and then walked up to Clint, who was flying the plane.

“Wanna switch out?” Tony asked.

“No, I’m good.” Clint said, slightly cold. “If you wanna get some kip, now’s a good time, cause we’re still a few hours out.” From where? Where exactly were we going. 

“A few hours from where?” Tony asked, confused.

“A safe house.” Clint replied, and he said nothing more. Tony walked away from Clint and towards me.

“Look.” He began. “I know that girl is your sister, but if she tries to hurt my team again…” 

“Wanda is under Ultron’s influence.” I said. “Pietro will stay with her wherever she goes. They’re just kids, Tony. They’ve been through a lot, and they want revenge.”

“On me.” Tony said. I nodded slowly. “I’m a different person than I was back then.” I nodded. I knew that.


	8. The Barton Family Farm

We had arrived at Clint’s ‘safe house’ and we were walking up to the front door. The house was on a large farm.

“What is this place?” Thor asked.

“A safe house, I guess.” I replied as we walked into the house.

“Honey, I’m home!” Clint yelled. A woman, heavily pregnant, walked into the room. “Sorry I didn’t call ahead. We have company.

“This is an agent of some kind?” Tony said, slightly in shock.

“This is Laura.” Clint said, his arm around her.

“I know all your names.” Laura said, although I saw a flicker of confusion on her face when she saw me. I heard footsteps coming towards us. Two kids, a boy and a girl, ran to Clint and hugged him.

“These are… smaller agents?” Tony said. Clint had a family. A secret family that not even the Avengers knew about. 

“Did you bring Auntie Nat?” His daughter, Lila, asked. Okay, maybe one Avenger did know about this. Nat smiled.

“Why don’t you hug her and find out?” Nat said as she picked up Lila in a hug.

“Sorry for barging in on you.” Steve said. I nearly laughed. Even now, he was the ultimate champion of politeness.

“Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed.” Tony added.

“Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined.” Clint explained. “He kept if off SHIELD’s files. I’d like to keep it that way. I figure it’s a pretty good place to lay low.”

“How’s little Natasha?” Nat asked, referring to the baby that had yet to be born. I guess they were going to name her after Natasha.

“She’s… Nathaniel.” Laura said sheepishly.  
“Traitor.” Natasha joked. I laughed, and they both looked at me.

“I don’t seem to know you.” Laura said.

“I’m Piper.” I replied. “Piper Maximoff. I guess I’m a… kind of new recruit?” Natasha just shrugged. What was I doing here anyways? I wasn’t an Avenger. Not yet, at least.

…

So, it turned out that Nick Fury was there the whole time. He regarded me with suspicion, but he didn’t say anything.

“Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time.” Fury said. “My contacts all say he’s building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don’t think it’s just one thing.”

“What about Ultron himself?” Steve asked. Fury seemed to have contacts everywhere.

“He’s easy to track, he’s everywhere.” Fury said. “The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still, doesn’t help us get an angle on any of his plans though.”

“He still going after launch codes?” Tony asked.

“Yes, he is, but he’s not making any headway.” Fury said. How? Ultron was literally in every technology system, and he was created by Tony Stark, one of the smartest people in the world.

“I cracked the Pentagon’s firewall in high school on a dare.” Tony said, further proving my point. 

“Yeah, well I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that.” Fury said.

“NEXUS?” I asked. I had never heard of it before.

“It’s the world interned hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on Earth.” Bruce explained. Ok, that was cool.

“So what did they say?” Clint asked.

“He’s fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed.” Fury said.

“By who?” Tony said.

“Parties unknown.” Fury replied. It must have killed him not to know something.

“Do we have an ally?” Natasha asked.

”Ultron’s got an enemy.” Fury said. “That’s not the same thing. Still, I’d pay folding money to know who it is.”

“I might need to visit Oslo, find out ‘unknown.’” Tony said.

“Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you’d have more than that.” Natasha said. Wow, just going all out there.

“I do.” Fury said. “I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all bare, back on Earth, with nothing but out wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard.”

“Steve doesn’t like that kind of talk.” Natasha joked.

“You know what, Romanoff?” Steve said. Natasha grinned mischievously at him.

“So what does he want?” Fury asked like we were all students in a classroom.

“To become better.” Steve said. “Better than all of us. He keeps building these bodies.” 

“Person bodies.” Tony said. “The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we’re outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it.”

“When you programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed.” I commented. Tony glared at me, and Natasha grinned.

“They don’t need to be protected, they need to evolve.” Bruce said. “Ultron’s going to evolve.”

“How?” Fury asked.

“Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?” Bruce asked. The scientist with the regeneration cradle. If Ultron somehow convinced her to use it to build a new, more powerful body…

Oh shit.


	9. Retrieving the Cradle

We were in a quinjet, flying over Seoul, Korea, which was the location of Helen Cho’s lab. We landed in the front, and sent Steve inside. We heard the whole conversation over comms.

“Dr. Cho!” Steve said. I heard footsteps, fast and loud.

“He’s uploading himself into the body.” Helen said. She sounded weak, she must have been injured.

“Where?” Steve asked.

“The real power is inside the cradle.” Helen said. “The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can’t just blow it up. You have to get the cradle to Stark.”

“First I have to find it.” Steve replied.

“Go.” Helen whispered, barely audible.

“Did you guys copy that?” Steve said to us.

“We did.” Clint said. We were looking at the scanners to see where Ultron was and where he was headed.

“I got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest.” I said, looking at my scanner. “That could be him.” Clint looked out the window and saw something.

“There.” He said. “It’s the truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It’s them, I got three with the cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver.”

“Negative!” Steve said. “If that truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron.” Steve jumped onto the roof of the truck, and Ultron blasted the door.

“Well, he’s definitely unhappy.” Steve said. “I’m gonna try and keep him that way.”

“You’re not a match for him, Cap.” Clint said. Well neither was Clint, so he shouldn’t go around throwing stones.

“Thanks Barton.” Steve said sarcastically. Ultron blasted Steve again, but he hung onto the damaged door.

“He needs help.” I said. “Drop me on the overpass.” Clint swerved the jet to go to the overpass. The truck was headed in that direction. The doors opened, and I jumped onto the road.

The truck was about to pass under the overpass, and I jumped on top of it. Steve didn’t have his shield. Two Ultron bots came to face me.

“Hi.” I said. One of them tried to punch, but I ducked and blasted it in the face. It went flying back, and then it flew into the truck. The other one slammed its hand into my stomach, giving it time to follow the other one.

Steve and Ultron rolled onto the road. Natasha got into the truck, and I followed her. There was a jolt, and suddenly, the truck was flying. I looked down and saw the two Ultron bots propelling it.

“Well, that’s new.” Natasha muttered as she cut the cradle free and started setting a bomb.

“The package is airborne, I have a clean shot.” I heard Clint say.

“Negative, we are still in the truck.” I replied.

“What the hell are you…” Clint trailed off. I had a feeling that things like these were common with Natasha.

“Just be ready, I’m sending the package to you.” Natasha said. She signaled to me, and we prepared to push it out of the truck and into the quinjet.

“How do you want me to take it?” He asked.

“You might wish you hadn’t asked that.” I said. The bomb started a ten second countdown, and we pushed the cradle into the quinjet as the truck exploded. I felt something grab my foot, and I blasted without looking. Whatever it was let go, and I started to fall. I grabbed the edge of the platform on the quinjet and hauled myself in. 

I realized that Natasha wasn’t there.

“Nat!” Clint said frantically. “Cap, do you see Nat?!”

“If you have the package, get it too Stark!” Steve said over the comms. “Go.”

“Do you have eyes on Nat?” Clint repeated.

“Go!” Steve yelled. Reluctantly, Clint started to fly away.

“Wait!” I said. “We can’t leave her!”

“I don’t want to either, but we have to get this thing to Tony now.” Clint said, although I heard the regret in his voice. I told myself that she was fine, even if I was deceiving myself. 

…

I waited in the entry area of Avengers tower. Bruce and Tony had the cradle, and Clint was looking for Nat using ‘old school spy stuff.’ I was waiting for Steve to get back.

“Is anyone there?” I heard him say over my comm. “Does anyone copy?”

“I copy.” I said. “What’s your status?”

“Clint send the quinjet back on autopilot, and I’m almost there.” Steve said. “Piper, you siblings are with me. They betrayed Ultron, and they helped me during the fight.”

“Don’t trust them.” I said. “I’ll read their minds when you get back to see if they are really on our side. Stay wary.”

Steve walked in later, along with Wanda and Pietro. I held my hand up, signaling them to stop. I read their minds. They seemed genuinely sorry, and they were actually on our side.

“So, you finally came to your senses.” I said. I turned to Steve. “They are on our side. For now, at least.” He nodded, and we walked into the lab.

Tony and Bruce had the cradle. Instead of shutting in down, they were bringing whatever was in it to life. What the hell were they thinking?

“I’m going to say this once.” Steve began.

“How about ‘nonce.’” Tony said, basically ignoring Steve.

“Shut it down!” I said. He was literally doing the exact same thing that created Ultron. Didn’t he realize what was happening?

“Nope, not gonna happen.” Tony said. I wanted to control his mind, make him stop. But I wouldn’t use that power against the people I called friends.

“You don’t know what you’re doing.” Steve said.

“And you do?” Bruce said. “She’s not in your head?” He gestured to Wanda. Honestly, I understood where he was coming from.

“I know you’re angry.” Wanda said.

“Oh, we’re way past that.” Bruce replied. “I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade.”

“Are you serious right now?” I said, incredulous. I know what Wanda did, but she was just a kid, a confused kid.

“Banner, after everything that’s happened…” Steve said.

“That’s nothing compared to what’s coming!” Tony exclaimed. We argued more, until I couldn’t even hear myself think. In a blur, Pietro rushed around the room and shut down the cradle. We were in complete silence.

“No, no.” Pietro said. “Go on. You were saying?” Suddenly, A bullet shot out of the glass floor, right in front of Pietro’s face. He fell down to the lower level, where Clint was waiting.

“Pietro!” Wanda yelled. Tony moves to re-activate the cradle, and I blasted the control board. Bruce grabbed Wanda, but she used her powers to push him away.

In a flash of lighting, Thor flew in, and pounded the cradle with his hammer. A bolt of lightning came down. It would bring whatever was in there to life.

“Wait!” I cried, but it was too late. A red android, the Vision, jumped out of the cradle. He had the voice of JARVIS, Tony’s AI.

“I’m sorry, that was… odd.” Vision said. He turned to Thor. “Thank you.”

“Thor, you helped create this?” Steve asked. We stood in front of Vision, prepared to fight. Vision simply studied us.

“I’ve had a vision.” Thor said. “A whirlpool that suck in all hope of life, and at its center is that.” He pointed to the yellow gem that was in the middle of Vision’s forehead. 

“What, the gem?” Bruce asked.

“It’s the Mind Stone.” Thor replied. “It’s one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities.”

“Then why would you bring it to life?” Steve asked.

“Because Stark is right.” Thor said, which surprised me.

“Oh, it’s definitely the end times.” I said, referring to the fact that Thor just said Tony was right about something. 

“The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron.” Thor said. If he was admitting defeat now, then we had already lost.

“Not alone.” Vision said. The fact that it was JARVIS’s voice coming out of the android kind of creeped me out.

“Why does your ‘vision’ sound like JARVIS?” Steve asked Tony.

“We reconfigured JARVIS’s matrix to create something…new.” Tony said. Oh great, another new robot. Hopefully this one will turn out better than the other one.

“I think I’ve had my fill of new.” Steve muttered.

“You think I’m a child of Ultron?” Vision said. He almost seemed confused.

“You’re not?” I said skeptically. I did not trust this android whatsoever. 

“I’m not Ultron. I’m not Jarvis. I am…” Vision trailed off dramatically. So the robot had a flare for the dramatics. Well, I know where he got that from (cough, Tony Stark, cough). 

“I looked in your head and saw annihilation.” Wanda said. 

“Look again.” Vision said. 

“Yeah, her seal of approval means jack to me.” Clint said. 

“What about mine?” I replied. They may not trust Wanda, but I was pretty sure they trusted me. “I’ll look into his head. See what he really believes.” The Avengers stared at me as I read Vision’s mind. He was different from Ultron. His mind was… peaceful. I saw a world intact, with people happy. A peaceful world. But also fire. War.

“There’s peace.” I said. “And war. Almost like he’s a balance in between. I’m not sure which side of him we’re dealing with. If he’s against us…”

“Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and they’re nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side…” Thor said.

“Is it?” Steve asked. He faced Vision. “Are you? On our side?”

“I don’t think it’s that simple.” Vision said. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Either he would fight with us or against us. 

“Well it better get real simple real soon.” Clint said, his hand on his bow, though I wasn’t sure what a bow and arrow could do against Vision.

“I am on the side of life.” Vision said. Yeah, we were definitely seeing his peaceful side. “Ultron isn’t, he will end it all.”

“What’s he waiting for?” Tony asked. There was a long, dramatic pause.

“You.” Vision finally said.

“Where?” Bruce asked.

“Sokovia.” Clint said. Seriously? Of all the places, he had to be there. “He’s got Nat there too.” 

“If we’re wrong about you.” Bruce said. “If you’re the monster that Ultron made you to be…” It sounded like he was trying to make a threat, only he didn’t know what to threaten him with.

“What will you do?” Vision said. He looked around. We could destroy him, if we wanted to. “I don’t want to kill Ultron. He is unique and he’s in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he’s built, ever trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don’t think I’d know if I were one. I’m not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to go.”

Then, he picked up Mjolnir like it weighed nothing and handed it to Thor. He walked off as we all gaped. He was worthy. He could pick up the hammer.

“Well done.” Thor said to Tony, patting him on the back. 

“Three minutes.” Steve said. “Get what you need.”


	10. Battle of Sokovia

The flight to Sokovia was tense. The Avengers kept glancing at Wanda, Pietro, and Vision suspiciously. Eventually, Steve stood up and gave us a ‘pep talk.’

“Ultron knows we’re coming.” Steve began. “Odds are we’ll be riding into heavy fire, and that’s what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn’t, so our priority is getting them out. Use your mind powers, make sure they get out of the city. All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that’s not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done, and find out what Ultron’s been building. We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we’re monsters, and we’re what’s wrong with the world. This isn’t just about beating him. It’s about whether he’s right.”

Damn, he was good at those speeches. We landed in Sokovia. Wanda and I used our powers to make the people leave the city. I didn’t like using my powers to control minds, but we had to get the people to safety. Tony flew to the church at the center of the city, where Ultron most likely was.

As the people were evacuating, Ultron robots came and started firing at us. Wanda quickly created an energy shield to protect the citizens on the bridge.

“Get of the bridge.” Wanda said. “Run!” One of the robots blasted the weak point in the shield, sending Wanda flying. I blasted it and then ushered the citizens away. Then something weird happened.

The ground split. I could see it splitting farther away, forming a circle. Then Sokovia started to rise into the air. I realized that I was on the side that stayed on the ground. 

“Steve!” I yelled, because he was standing closest to me. He turned around and saw me. I held up my hand, and he grabbed by arm and hauled me up. Robots were in the air, all saying the same message.

“Do you see?” Ultron said. “The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword, and the Earth will crack with the weight of your failure.” I blasted the robot closest to me, but another one immediately took its place. “Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal.” With that, they attacked. 

My powers were useful against them, but they replaced each other so easily. I tried to catch two or three at a time, but they just kept coming. Once we had dismantled most of them, another wave came up.

“Cap, Piper, you got incoming.” Tony said just after the new wave came.

“Incoming already came it.” Steve said. “Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart.” Oh, I would do that with pleasure. “You get hurt, hurt ‘em back. You get killed.. walk it off.” Seriously, he was very good at these speeches. 

Another section of the ground fell off, and car fell, with a woman in it. I ran to grab her, but she was too far down. Thor flew down and threw her to us. I caught her hand, and Steve tried to pull her up.

“I got you!” Steve said as she screamed her head off. “Just look at me!” Together, we pulled her onto the ground. A robot came at us from behind.

“You can’t save them all.” Ultron said. “You’ll never-“ Steve interrupted in by decapitating it with his shield. It fell towards the Earth below.

“You’ll never what?” Steve yelled. “You didn’t finish!” Thor landed on top of a car. Where had he been since he saved the woman?

“What, were you napping?” Steve said. A new wave of robots came, but we held them off. Suddenly, Ultron himself swooped down, grabbed Thor, and then flew away with him. 

“Alright, we’re all clear over here.” I heard Clint say over the comm. Lucky him.

“We are not clear!” I said as I blasted robots with all my energy. “We are very not clear!” I pushed four robots together and incinerated them.

“Alright, coming to you.” Clint said. All of a sudden, Natasha was there, fighting alongside us. She was surrounded by five robots.

“Romanoff!” Steve yelled. She turned, and he threw her his shield. She used it to destroy the robots, and then she threw it back to Steve.

“Thanks.” She said. The area seemed strangely robot-free.

“The next wave’s gonna hit any minute.” Steve said. “What have you got, Stark?”

“Well, nothing great.” Tony said over the comm. “Maybe a way to blow up the city. That’ll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear.”

“I asked for a solution, not an escape plan.” Steve said.

“Impact radius is getting bigger every second.” Tony said. “We’ve got to make a choice.”

“Cap, these people are going nowhere.” Natasha said, walking over to us. “If Stark finds a way to blow this rock…”

“Not until everyone’s safe.” Steve said. I admired his spirit, but we were talking about the end of the world here.

“Everyone up here versus everyone down there?” I said. “There’s no math there. The whole world is at stake.”

“I’m not leaving this rock with one civilian on it.” Steve said. Well, who said we were leaving.

“I didn’t say we should leave.” Natasha said. We looked down at the Earth, far below. “There’s worse way to go. Where else am I going to get a view like this?” And then we heard a new voice over the comms.

“Glad you like the view, Romanoff.” Fury said. “It’s about to get better.” A SHIELD helicarrier came into view. If we could get all of the civilians on that, we could blow up the city and everyone would survive. Including us. “Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She’s dusty, but she’ll do.”

“Fury, you son of a bitch.” Steve said. Natasha and I glanced at each other, extremely surprised. Steve was swearing? It really was the end of the world. 

“Ooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Fury said. There was a blur, and Pietro was standing next to us. He looked at the helicarrier in awe.

“This is SHIELD?” He said. 

“This is what SHIELD’s supposed to be.” Steve replied.

“This is not so bad.” Pietro said with a shrug. Multiple air-boats came and landed on the surface. We had to get the people in there.

“Let’s load ‘em up.” Steve said. We started ushering civilians onto the air-boats. Robots flew towards the helicarrier. I was worried for a second, but then Rhodey flew out in full War Machine armor. Tony flew into the sky to help him. 

“Avengers, time to work for a living!” Tony said over the comm. I saw him flying towards the church, so I ran in that direction. We were all there except for Natasha. A minute later, she plowed in with a truck.

“What’s the drill?” She asked. Tony pointed to a vibranium core in the center of the church.

“This is the drill.” He said. “If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose.” Ultron flew up in front of us.

“Is that the best you can do?!” Thor yelled. Why, why must he tempt Fate? Ultron summoned his whole army, so many robots that I couldn’t count.

“You had to ask.” Steve said, exasperated.

“This is the best I can do.” Ultron said. “This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?”

“Like the old man said.” Tony replied. “Together.”

If they ever made a movie about us, this would be the ultimate action scene. We formed a circle around the core as the robots attacked us, fighting them off in our won unique ways. We were the Avengers. We were a team, and we were a good team. 

Seven robots teamed up against me. I blasted two of them to smithereens, and sent the other five crashing into the wall. 

Vision, Thor, and Tony all fired their power at Ultron. He was pushed back, out of the church. When they stopped, it looked like Ultron had been melted.

“You know, with the benefit of hindsight-“ Ultron began, but he was interrupted with the Hulk picking him up like a rag doll and throwing him across the town. I saw a few robots fly away.

“They’re trying to leave the city!” I yelled. 

“We can’t let ‘em, not even one.” Tony said. “Rhodey!” Rhodey flew out to face the robots. 

“I’m on it.” He said, blasting them down. “Oh no, I didn’t say you could leave. War Machine, coming at you.” 

“We gotta move out.” Steve said. “Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I’ll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you.”

“What about the core?” Clint asked. We couldn’t leave in out in the open. 

“I’ll protect it.” Wanda said. She glanced at Clint. “It’s my job.” As mad as I was at her, I didn’t want to leave her. 

“Get the people on the boats.” Wanda said.

“I’m not going to leave you here.” Pietro said.

“I can handle this.” Wanda said. To prove her point, she blasted an incoming robot. “Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before.” Pietro hesitated.

“You understand?!” Wanda said.

“You know, I’m twelve minutes older than you.” Pietro joked. Wanda grinned.

“Go.” She said. Pietro ran off.

“Be careful.” I replied. She nodded, and I ran towards the helicarrier. I saw Steve ushering people on the air boats, and I ran over and helped him.

“Come on!” I yelled. “Everyone on! Let’s go!” A small wave of robots flew over us. I blasted them all while ushering the people to safety.

I saw our quinjet flying towards us, and I realized Ultron was inside. He started firing the jet’s guns at us. I dove to the side as Ultron seemingly cleared a path. I looked back and realized what his target was. Clint was holding a little boy, trying to get him back to the boats. Clint turned around, shielding the boy, preparing for death.

A blur appeared in front of him. I knew what that blur was. It was like I saw it in slow motion. When time sped up again, Pietro was standing in front of Clint, his body riddled with bullets.

“No!” I screamed, and I ran over to him. Pietro fell to the ground, and I grabbed his hand. He was alive, but barely. “Come on, just stay with me!”

“Pipes.” Pietro said faintly. “Take… care… of… Wanda.” I nodded, tears in my eyes.

“I will.” I said. “I swear I will.” With one last breath, Pietro’s hand went slack in mine. He was dead. My little brother was dead. 

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Steve.

“Piper, get on a boat.” He said. “Everyone’s safe.” I shook my head.

“Wanda.” I said. “I have to go back for her. I can’t leave her, not after-“ I couldn’t even say it. I stood up. And then the ground fell. 

Steve grabbed my arm and pulled me onto one of the boats. Wanda was still on there. She would die. 

I saw something float out of what was Sokovia. As it got closer, I realized it was Vision, and he was carrying Wanda. She was alive. Thank god, she was alive. 

Our boat docked at the helicarrier, and I immediately ran over to Wanda. She looked up at me, her eyes full of pain and sadness. Without a word, I embraced her, and she sobbed into my shoulder. 

…

I was an Avenger. A real, official Avenger. I waited in the training area along with Wanda, Vision, Sam, and Rhodey. The doors opened, and Steve and Natasha entered. Time to being the training.

“Avengers!” Steve said. Time to be a real team.


	11. Fighting Crossbones (And A Lot of Stuff Explodes)

2016

I sat in a small cafe. My seat faced the window. I sipped some coffee and looked out the window. Across the street, a few stores down, was the restaurant where Wanda and Natasha were. 

“Alright, what do you see?” I heard Steve say over my comm. He was in a hotel room, waiting for the action to start.

“Standard beat cops.” Wanda said. “Small station. Quiet street. It’s a good target.” We had been hunting Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones. He and Steve had a history, and not a good one. Recently, he had been attacking police stations, and we got a tip that he was going to hit Lagos next. 

“There’s an ATM in the south corner, which means…” Steve said. We knew he was asking Wanda. She wasn’t exactly picking up the spy stuff as quickly as the rest of us. It wasn’t that she was doing bad, just not as well.

“Cameras.” Wanda replied.

“Both cross streets are one way.” Steve said.

“So compromised escape routes.” Wanda said. She was getting the hang of it.

“Means our guy doesn’t care about being seen, he isn’t afraid to make a mess on the way out.” Steve said. “Piper, you see that Range Rover parked in front of you?”

“The red one?” I said, looking straight at it. It was a nice car. “It’s cute.”

“It’s also bulletproof.” Natasha said. “Which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody, probably us.”

“You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?” Wanda said. She was getting cocky, and that was not a good thing. Sometimes, she was too confident in her powers. 

“Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature.” Natasha said, and I knew she was smirking.

“Anybody ever tell you you’re a little paranoid?” Sam joked. He was on the roof of a building, since his wings weren’t exactly conspicuous.

“No, not to my face.” Natasha said, deadpan. “Why? Did you hear something?” I grinned. 

“Eyes on target, folks.” Steve said, but he was probably surppressing a smile. “This is the best leave we’ve had on Rumlow in six months. I don’t want to lose him.”

“If he sees us coming that won’t be a problem.” Sam said. “He kind of hates us.”

“What exactly did you do to make him hate you so much?” I asked.

“We, uh, sort of dropped a building on him.” Sam said sheepishly. Okay, I was not expecting that. No wonder they talked about how Rumlow wanted them all dead.

“Sam, see that garbage truck?” Steve said. I looked out the window and saw it driving down the street. “Tag it.” Sam sent his mini drone (he named it Redwing) to scan the truck.

“That truck’s loading for max weight.” Sam said. “And the driver’s armed.” 

“It’s a battering ram.” Natasha said as I was dawning on that same conclusion. I abruptly stood up and got out of the cafe.

“Go now.” Steve said. “He’s not hitting the police.” I kept an even pace as I followed the truck. There was no need to run and draw attention to myself. 

I saw the truck crash into a gateway, clearing a path into the Institute for Infectious Diseases, and then I started running. 

“Body armor, AR-15’s.’ Sam said. “7 hostiles.” I saw two of them hit the ground. “I make five.” As I arrived, one charged at me, but I blasted him back. Wanda suspended him in the air.

“Sam!” She said. He glided down and caught the solider with one of his wings.

“Four.” Sam said. Steve ran up to us, and Sam sent Redwing to scan the building. He beeped when he found something.

“Rumlow’s on the third floor.” Sam said. 

“Wanda, just like we practiced.” Steve said. Oh, we were doing the plan where Wanda telekinetically floated Steve to a higher floor.

“What about the gas?” Wanda asked. 

“Get it out.” Steve replied. Wanda telekinetically lifted Steve up to the third floor, and then used her powers to get the gas out of the building. 

The four remaining soldiers in the area ran at us. I blasted one of them, and he hit the side of a truck and collapsed to the floor. Sam stood in front of me and turned around, his wings acting as a shield. He pressed a few buttons on his wrist-controls and two bombs flew out, taking out the soldiers.

“Rumlow has a biological weapon.” I heard Steve say. Oh shit, that was not good. 

“I’m on it.” I heard Natasha say. I turned to see her riding a motorcycle towards their command truck. I ran over just as Rumlow threw her into the truck and dropped a grenade. I ran up to the truck and blasted a hole in the side of it. I grabbed Nat’s arm and pulled her out just as it exploded. 

“I had that under control.” Natasha said. 

“Oh really? Including the part where you were about to get blown up?” I retorted. We ran over to the street, following Sam, who was in the sky. We ended up in a large open-air market.

“I got four, they’re splitting up.” Sam said.

“I got the two on the left.” Natasha said. 

“I got the right.” I added, and we split up. I saw the men as I was running, and I chased after them. I motioned for the civilians to get out of the way. 

The men were fast, but I was faster. I blasted one, sending him flying into a wall. The other one had a gun, so I blasted it out of his hand and punched him. I let my power flow through my hand, so when my fist connected with his face, he went flying back. 

They were both unconscious, and I searched them and their bags for the bio-weapon. They had nothing.

“They don’t have it.” I said. “I’m empty. Natasha, you have to hurry.” I made my way back to the main area, but people kept stopping me, either to thank me or ask what the hell I was doing. Either way, I didn’t have time for that. 

“Payload secure.” I heard Nat say over the comm. At least we had that. But what about Rumlow? 

The giant explosion gave me the answer. 

I sprinted to the center of the square. Steve and Wanda were there. Rumlow had set off a bomb, but Wanda contained it. She didn’t realize how powerful it was, and the explosion set fire to a building. She seemed completely horrified.

“Sam.” Steve said. “We need fire and rescue on the south side of the building. We gotta get up there.” I turned and saw the civilians gaping at us in horror. What had we done?


	12. The Sokovia Accords

It had beed a month since what happened in Lagos. I was in my room at the Avengers Compound, reading a book, when I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in.” I said. The door opened, revealing Natasha.

“Meeting room. Now.” She said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Tony’s back.” Natasha said. That didn’t explain why we were having a meeting. “He brought the Secretary of State with him.” What? I immediately got up, and we walked over to the meeting room. 

We sat down at the table, where the rest of the Avengers were. The Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross, was standing at the board, ready to give us a presentation.

“Five years ago, I had a heart attack.” Ross began. “I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an un-payable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives. But, while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word ‘vigilantes.’”

“And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?” I asked. I knew where this was going. People thought the Avengers were dangerous, a menace to society even. Well you know what? We might have destroyed a few buildings. There might have been some destruction in cities. But that was a small price to pay for us saving the whole freaking world. 

But there were also deaths. And those were unforgivable. 

“How about ‘dangerous?’” Ross responded to my question. “What would you call a group of US based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore the sovereign borders and infect their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?” Unconcerned? Did he think we were heartless?

He activated the screen behind him. On it, there was a map. Certain places were marked. I didn’t have to guess that those places were places that the Avengers have had battles.

“New York.” Ross said. A video appeared of the Avengers’ battle in New York in 2012. I wasn’t on the team then. Aliens rained down from a hole in the sky. People were terrified.

“Washington, D.C.” Ross said. A new video appeared. This was the fall of SHIELD. Helicarriers fell from the sky into the Potomac. A flood engulfed some citizens. People were screaming and running. 

“Sokovia.” Ross said. No, I wasn’t ready to revisit that. Our battle with Ultron. The city floating, robots everywhere. My home country exploding.

“Lagos.” Ross finished. The burning building, dead people. Wanda looked down. She blamed herself, even though it was not her fault. 

“Okay, that’s enough.” Steve said quietly, seeing Wanda. Ross turned off the screen. 

“For the past four years, you’ve operated with unlimited power and no supervision.” Ross said. “That’s an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution.” He put a large document on the table and slid it down. It ended up right in front of Wanda.

“The Sokovia Accords.” Ross said. “Approved by 117 countries, it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they’ll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.” 

“The Avengers were formed to make the world a better place.” Steve said. “I feel that we’ve done that.” 

“Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?” Ross asked. No, we did not. Bruce had gone missing after the battle with Ultron and Thor… he was probably on Asgard. “If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes, you can bet there’d be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That’s how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground.” I didn’t like the way he compared us to nukes. Talked about us like we were things, not living beings. 

“So, there are contingencies.” Rhodey said.

“Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the accords.” Ross said. “Talk it over.” He began to walk out. 

“And if we come to a decision you don’t like?” Natasha asked.

“Then you retire.” Ross replied, walking out of the room. Retire? I was 23! There was no way in hell that I was going to retire. And yet, I didn’t want to sign those accords. 

…

We were discussing what to do about the accords. As soon as the conversation started, there were arguments. Mostly between Rhodey and Sam.

“Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have.” Rhodey said, which I thought was a pretty lame argument.

“So let’s say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before the LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?” Sam said. 

“117 countries want to sign this.” Rhodey argued. “117, Sam, and you’re just like ‘No, that’s cool, we got it.’”

“How long are you going to play both sides?” Sam said.

“I have an equation.” Vision said. 

“That should clear this up.” I said with extreme sarcasm. Sam grinned. 

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons had grown exponentially.” Vision said. “And during that same person, the number of world ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.” Had Vision considered the fact that we, as enhanced people, revealed ourselves because of the world ending events, not the other way around?

“Are you saying it’s our fault?” Steve asked quietly.

“I’m saying there may be a casualty.” Vision explained. “Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict breeds catastrophe. Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.”

“Boom.” Rhodey said. 

“Even if we sign this thing, our ’strength’ will still be there and, if your theory is actually correct, world ending events could still happen.” I said. “And if the government won’t let us handle it, things could turn out not so great.” 

“Well that’s just the thing, Piper, how do you know the government won’t let us handle it?” Rhodey retorted. 

“Tony.” Natasha said. “You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal.” It was true. Tony’s lack of arguing surprised me.

“It’s because he’s already made up his mind.” Steve said.   
“You know me so well.” Tony said sarcastically. He stood up and rubbed the back of his head. “Actually, I’m nursing an electromagnetic headache. That’s what’s going on, Cap. It’s just pain. It’s discomfort. Who’s putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?” He dropped his phone in a fruit basket. It projected the image of a smiling young man. 

“Oh, that’s Charles Spencer, by the way.” Tony said. “He’s a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his should, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world, maybe be of service. Charlie didn’t want to go to Vegas or For Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn’t go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia. He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won’t know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass.” We sat in silence for a few minutes. This boy was dead because of us. People died, and it was our fault.

“There’s no decision making process here!” Tony said. “We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I’m game. If we can’t accept limitations, if we’re boundary-less, we’re no better than the bad guys.

“Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don’t give up.” Steve replied.

“Who said we’re giving up?” Tony asked.

“We are if we’re not taking responsibility for our actions.” Steve said. “This document just shifts the blames.” 

“I’m sorry, Steve, that is dangerously arrogant.” Rhodey said. “This is the United Nations we’re talking about. It’s not the World Security Council, it’s not SHIELD, it’s not HYDRA.”

“No, but it’s run by people with agendas, and agendas change.” Steve said. That was true. Who knows how people’s ideas can change?  
“That’s good.” Tony said. “That’s why I’m here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing.”

“Tony, you chose to do that.” Steve retorted. “If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don’t think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don’t let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still ours.”

“If we don’t do this now, it’s gonna be done to us later.” Tony said. “That’s the fact. That won’t be pretty.”

“You’re saying they’ll come for me.” Wanda said quietly. Oh, I would never let that happen. I had already lost Pietro, I wasn’t going to lose her too.

“We would protect you.” Vision replied.

“Maybe Tony is right.” Natasha said. We all looked at her, shocked. Did Natasha Romanoff just say Tony Stark was right? “If we have one handle on the wheel, we can still steer.”

“Aren’t you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?” Sam asked incredulously.

“I’m just reading the terrain.” Natasha said. “We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back.”

“Focus up. I’m sorry did I just mishear you, or did you agree with me?” Tony asked, still shocked.

“Oh, I want to take it back now.” Natasha said.

“No, no, no.” Tony said. “You can’t react it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, cased closed, I win.” Steve’s phone buzzed. He looked at it, and I could tell something was wrong.

“I have to go.” He said quietly. He abruptly dropped the Accords and fast-walked out of the room. I saw a tear escape his eye.


	13. Everything Starts Going Wrong

Well, everything had kind of gone to hell. Turns out, the text Steve got was about Peggy Carter’s death. He went to her funeral. Then, at the ratification of the Accords, someone planted a bomb, killing T’Chaka, the King of Wakanda. And that someone was believed to be Bucky Barnes, Steve’s childhood best friend. T’Challa, the son of T’Chaka was out for revenge. Bucky, Steve, Sam, and T’Challa all fought, and they were now in government custody. 

We were in a government facility in Berlin, Germany. I was standing in a small catwalk hallway with Natasha when they arrived, escorted by Sharon Carter and Everett Ross.

“You’ll be provided with an office instead of a cell.” Ross was saying. “Now, do me a favor, stay in it.”

“I don’t intend to be going anywhere.” T’Challa replied. 

“For the record, this is what making things worse looks like.” Natasha said to Steve, who had fallen into step beside us.

“He’s alive.” Steve replied. He turned to me. “You’re on their side?”

“I wouldn’t say that.” I replied.

“Piper, did you sign the Accords?” He persisted. 

“Come on, you should know me better than that.” I said. “No, I did not sign the Accords. They’ve allowed me to be here because they think I’m actually considering it. I’m being watched, though.”

We walked into the main area, where Tony was on the phone.

“Consequences?” Tony said to whoever was on the other side fo the conversation. “You bet there’ll be consequences. Obviously you can quote me on that because I just said it. Thank you sir.” He hung up.

“Consequences?” Steve asked.

“Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted.” Tony explained. “Had to give him something.” 

“I’m not getting that shield back, am I?” Steve said, his voice full of dread.

“Technically it’s the government’s property.” Natasha said as she and Tony began to walk away. “Wings too.”

“That’s cold.” Sam muttered.

“Warmer than jail.” Tony yelled back. Sometimes, it really pays off to have powers that are part of you, so people can’t take them away.

Steve and Sam went into their ‘offices,’ and I leaned against the wall, taking in my surroundings. I noticed the government officials that were watching me. For elite spies, they were very conspicuous. 

Later, Tony walked into Steve’s office. Their conversation actually seemed to go fine, which surprised me, considering the current situation. I didn’t pay attention until I heard Tony say Wanda’s name.

“Wanda?” Steve said. “What about Wanda?”

“She’s fine.” Tony reassured. “She’s confined to the compound, currently. Vision’s keeping her company.” Confined? How did I not know about this?

“Oh God Tony!” Steve exclaimed. “Every time. Every time I think you see things the right way-“

“What?” Tony interrupted. “It’s 100 acres with a lap pool. It’s got a screening room. There’s worse ways to protect people.”

“Protection?” Steve said incredulously. “Is that how you see this? This is protection? It’s internment, Tony.”

“She’s not a US citizen.” Tony began. Was he trying to defend his actions about this?

“Oh, come on Tony.” Steve said.

“And they don’t grant visas to weapons of mass destruction.” Tony said. I was shocked. Wanda was a person, and here he was, treating her like she was a weapon.

“She’s a kid!” Steve said, nearly yelling. 

“Give me a break!” Tony exclaimed. “I’m doing what has to be done to stave off something worse.” 

“You keep telling yourself that.” Steve retorted. Tony stormed out of the office. 

“Weapon of mass destruction?” I said as he passed by me. He froze and turned to face me.

“Look Piper, she doesn’t have full control of her powers, I’m doing this to protect her.” Tony said. 

“I don’t believe you.” I said. “I don’t like reading other people’s minds, but I will. Tell me the truth so I don’t have to.”

“She’s a danger to others.” Tony said. “Alright, is that what you wanted to hear? She won’t sign the Accords, and she could lose control and hurt someone. 

“So your solution is to lock her up?!” I said. 

“There are things that you don’t understand.” Tony muttered.

“No, I understand perfectly.” I said. I turned on my heel and walked into Steve and Sam’s office. I wouldn’t sign the Accords, and I wouldn’t join Tony’s team.

They looked up when I came in and slammed the door behind me.

“When do we leave?” I asked. They grinned. I had chosen my side, and it was the right one, no matter what I was pressured to do.

“Take this.” Steve said, handing me a small comm. “It’s on a different network. Wait for the signal.” I nodded, and we turned to the screens to watch Bucky’s interrogation.

“Hello Mr. Barnes.” The interrogator said. “I’ve been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you. Your first name is James?”

Sharon walked in and handed Steve and Sam slips of paper. 

“The receipt for your gear.” She explained. Sam looked at his.

“‘Bird costume?’” He questioned. I laughed. “Come on.”

“I didn’t write it.” Sharon said, and we continued to watch the interrogation.

“I’m not here to judge you.” The interrogator said. “I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James? I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me, James.”

“My name is Bucky.” Bucky said quietly. Steve was looking at a photo of the bomber in Vienna that was assumed to be Bucky. It was blurry.

“Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?” Steve asked.

“Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?” Sharon guessed.

“Right.” Steve said. “Its a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Solider.”

“You’re saying someone framed him to find him.” Sharon said. 

“Steve, we looked for the guy for two years and found nothing.” Sam said.

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t bomb the UN.” I reasoned. “That definitely turned a lot of heads. The whole world, in fact.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t guarantee that whoever framed him would get him.” Sharon said. “It guarantees that we would…” 

“Yeah.” Steve said. I studied the picture. Something seemed… off. I looked back up at the interrogation screen.

“Tell me, Bucky.” The interrogator said. “You’ve seen a great deal, haven’t you?”

“I don’t want to ask about it.” Bucky muttered, extremely uncomfortable. 

“You fear that if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop.” The interrogator said. “Don’t worry. We only have to talk about one.” The lights flickered, and the power went off. We looked at each other and ran out of the office, towards the detention level.

We sprinted down the stairs. We reached the room where Bucky was being kept. Agents were unconscious, or worse. The interrogator was lying on the floor, very much conscious.

“Help me. Help.” He said faintly. Steve yanked him up and shoved him against the wall. 

“Who are you?” Steve asked forcefully. “What do you want?”

“To see an empire fall.” The interrogator said. I whirled around, and there was Bucky. He swung his metal fist at Sam, who ducked. The fist made a hole in the wall. I blasted him, but it only seemed to make him more mad. He ran at me, and Steve tackled him like a football player. Bucky kicked Steve away, and Steve fell into the elevator shaft. 

Bucky ran, and I looked into the shaft to see if Steve was okay. He seemed fine, and I ran upstairs after Bucky.

He was fighting Natasha, Tony, and Sharon. Tony didn’t have his Iron Man suit, which was problematic. Natasha was on a table, holding her throat like she had just been choked. I turned and saw that T’Challa was fighting Bucky. Bucky, realizing that T’Challa could kill him, jumped over the railing. I looked down, and Bucky was gone.

I realized this was my chance to get out. I ran to the doors. I could blend in with the crowd. I was almost out the door when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned and saw Natasha.

“I can’t let you go, Pipes.” Nat said. 

“I’m not signing those Accords.” I said. “You can try to arrest me, but I can overpower you.” She didn’t move, and, as much as I didn’t want to, I blasted her hand. She recoiled, and I ran outside of the building. A crowd was running away, and I ran with them. I came upon a seemingly abandoned building and hid in there. 

About twenty minutes later, my comm crackled to life.

“Piper?” I heard Steve say.

“I’m here.” I replied.

“Are you still inside the building?” He asked. I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, I’m definitely still in the building full of government agents trying to arrest me.” I said sarcastically. “No, of course I’m not in the building!”

“Meet at these coordinates.” He said, and he recited the coordinates. It wasn’t far from where I was, and I began the walk, wary of any agents that were looking for me. 

…

We were at an old, abandoned warehouse. Steve had managed to get Bucky here, unconscious, and he was going to wake up any minute. His metal arm was in a vice, so he couldn’t attack us. 

“Hey Cap!” Sam yelled. Steve and I walked over to the area where Bucky was. He was waking up, finally.

“Steve.” Bucky said softly.

“Which Bucky am I talking too?” Steve asked. The nice one, or the crazy HYDRA murderer one? I silently added. 

“Your mom’s name was Sarah.” Bucky said. “You used to wear newspapers in your shoes.” 

“Can’t read that in a museum.” Steve reasoned. He was going to trust him because of that?!

“Just like that, and we’re supposed to be cool?” I said. “He kind of tried to kill us.”

“What did I do?” Bucky asked, his voice full of regret.

“Enough.” Steve replied. 

“Oh God.” Bucky said. “I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the god damn words.”

“Who was he?” Steve asked.

“I don’t know.” Bucky replied.

“People are dead.” Steve said. “The bombing, the stop. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minuted with you. I need you to do better than ‘I don’t know.’”

“He wanted to know about Siberia.” Bucky explained. “Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where.”

“Why would he need to know that?” Steve asked. Bucky paused.

“Because I’m not the only Winter Soldier.” Bucky said. Okay, I was not expecting that. There were more crazy killer super soldiers? Oh, this should be real fun, I thought sarcastically.

“Who were they?” Steve asked.

“Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum.” Bucky said. I didn’t know how this could get much worse.

“They all turn out like you?” I asked.

“Worse.” Bucky replied. I had spoken too soon. It had gotten worse.

“The doctor, could he control them?” Steve asked.

“Enough.” Bucky replied.

“Said he wanted to see an empire fall.” Steve said, pondering what that could possibly mean. An empire… that could mean many things to many different people/

“With these guys, he could do it.” Bucky said. “They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night.” 

We turned away from Bucky, trying to figure out what to do with this new information.

“This would have been a lot easier a week ago.” Sam said. A week ago, when the Avengers weren’t divided.

“If we call Tony…” Steve said.

“No, he won’t believe us.” I said. “Even if he did…”

“Who knows if the Accords would let him help.” Sam finished.

“We’re on our own.” Steve concluded.

“Maybe not.” Sam said. “ I know a guy.” 

…

We got into the small old car. It was the only thing available, and hopefully it would blend in. We were meeting Sharon to get Steve and Sam’s gear, and then meet Wanda, Clint, and Scott, the guy Sam knew, at the airport.

I got into the driver’s seat, Sam in the passenger’s seat, and Steve and Bucky reluctantly sat in the back.

“Can you even drive?” Bucky asked me.

“I’m 23, not 15.” I replied. “I don’t care that you tried to kill me, but don’t criticize my driving skills.” 

He put his hands up in mock surrender, and I drove us to the rendezvous, where Sharon was waiting. Steve got out of the car to greet her. 

“Can you move your seat up?” Bucky asked Sam.

“No.” Sam replied. Steve and Sharon talked for a bit, and then, suddenly, they kissed. I must say, I was not expecting that. 

Steve got the gear and put it in the trunk. As we drove away, Sam and Bucky kept glancing at Steve, no doubt because of the kiss.

“Oh stop it!” Steve finally said, and the three of us burst out in laughter.


	14. Fighting the Other Avengers

We pulled into the parking spot on one of the higher levels of the airport parking garage. A white van was already there. Wanda and Clint were standing in front of it. We got out of the car.

“Well well, you’ve been misbehaving.” I said to Wanda jokingly.

“I was just following my sister’s example.” Wanda retorted playfully. She did have a point there. I was not setting a great example. 

“Cap.” Clint said.

“You know I wouldn’t have called if I had any other choice.” Steve said. 

“Hey man, you’re doing me a favor.” Clint said, grinning. “Besides I owe a debt.” He glanced at Wanda, and then at me. A debt. Pietro. 

“Thanks for having my back.” Steve said to both of them. 

“It was time to get off my ass.” Wanda said with a grin. 

“How about our other recruit?” Steve asked. 

“He’s rarin’ to go.” Clint said, opening the van door to reveal Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man. “Had to put a little coffee in him, but he should be good.” Scott groaned and sat up.

“What time zone is this?” He asked groggily. He got out of the van and faced Steve. He looked surprised that he was actually meeting Steve Rogers.

“Captain America.” Scott said, completely amazed. They shook hands.

“Mr. Lang.” Steve replied.

“It’s an honor.” Scott said. “I’m shaking your hand too long. Wow. This is awesome! Captain America.” He looked at Wanda and me. “I know you, too. You’re great! Jeez, ah, look I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so thanks for thinking of me.” He looked at Sam. “Hey, man!”

“What’s up, Tic Tac?” Sam said. 

“Uh, good to see you.” Scott said awkwardly. “Look, what happened last time, when I…”  
“It was a great audition, but it’ll never happen again.” Sam said. He and Scott got into a fight, and Scott, with his shrinking suit, won. I was on the other side of a comm when it happened. Looking back on it, I probably should have gone out and helped him, but it was really amusing. 

“They tell you what we’re up against?” Steve asked.

“Something about some… psycho assassins?” Scott said. 

“We’re outside the law on this one.” Steve said. Oh, we were more than just a little outside the law. “So, if you come with us, you’re a wanted man.”

“Yeah, well what else is new?” Scott said. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. 

“We should get moving.” Bucky piped up. 

“We got a chopper lined up.” Clint said. 

“Dies ist eine Notsituation. Alle Passagiere müssen den Flughafen sofort evakuieren.” A voice said over the intercom. I didn’t speak German, so I had no idea what they were saying.

“They’re evacuating the airport.” Bucky translated. 

“Stark.” I said, exasperated. 

“Stark?” Lang asked. 

“Suit up.” Steve said. Looks like we had to fight the rest of the Avengers.

…

Steve walked out into the open area. Natasha, Tony, and Rhodey were there. I hid behind a large truck that was near the area. Sam and Bucky were in a terminal, Clint and Wanda were on the parking deck, and Scott… well, Scott was on Steve’s shield, shrunken down to the size of an ant.

“Wow, it’s so weird how you run into people at the airport.” Tony said as Steve approached them. I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you think that’s weird?”

“Definitely weird.” Rhodey replied. 

“Hear me out, Tony.” Steve began. “The doctor, the psychiatrist, he’s behind all of this.” T’Challa jumped out from behind a car and landed next to Tony. He was in full Black Panther armor.

“Captain.” T’Challa greeted.

“Your highness.” Steve replied.

“Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you guys in.” Tony said. “That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?”

“You’re after the wrong guy.” Steve said.

“Your judgement is askew.” Tony replied. “Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday.” It wasn’t his fault. He was being controlled, why didn’t Tony believe us?

“And there are five more super soldiers just like him.” Steve reasoned. “I can’t let the doctor find them first Tony, I can’t.”

“Steve.” Natasha said. “You know what’s about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?” 

“Alright, I’ve run out of patience.” Tony said. “Underoos!” Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, flipped out of his hiding spot and stole Steve’s shield. Unfortunately for Peter, he didn’t know that Scott was on the shield. 

“Nice job, kid.” Tony said.

“Thanks.” Peter replied. I could tell from his voice that he was young, a teenager. “Well, I could’ve stuck the landing a little better. It’s just the new suit… Well, it’s nothing, Mr. Stark. It’s perfect. Thank you.”

“Yeah, we don’t really need to start a conversation.” Tony said.

“Okay.” Peter said awkwardly. “Cap-Captain. Big fan, I’m Spider-Man.”

“Yeah, we’ll talk about it later, just…” Tony trailed off.

“Hey everyone.” Peter said, clearly not used to big battles like this.

“Good job.” Tony said, trying to end the awkward situation.

“You’ve been busy.” Steve remarked. 

“And you’ve been a complete idiot.” Tony replied. “Dragging in Clint. ‘Rescuing’ Wanda from a place she doesn’t even want to leave, a safe place. I’m trying to keep… I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.”

“You did that when you signed.” Steve replied. Ooh, good comeback.

“Alright, we’re done.” Tony said. “You’re going to turn Barnes over, you’re going to come with us, now. Because it’s us! Or a squad of J-SOC guy with no compunction about being impolite. Come on.” Sams’s voice came over the comm. 

“We found it. Their quinjet’s in Hangar Five, north runway.” Sam said. Yes, we could take their quinjet, it was our ticket out of here.

“Alright Lang.” Steve said. Scott grew tot full size and took the shield back from Peter. He gave it to Steve. 

“I believe this is yours, Captain America.” Scott said.

“Oh great.” Tony said sarcastically. He flew up towards the parking deck, where Wanda and Clint were. Rhodey fired a blast at Steve, and I ran out to counter it. I blasted the blast, and it hit the side of the truck that II was hiding behind.

“Perfect.” Rhodey muttered sarcastically. He put both his hand up and fired some kind of mega-blast, but I was ready. I ducked under it and blasted his legs. He flew back, into the wall of a hangar. 

I looked over and saw Natasha fighting Scott. It was odd, because it looked like she was fighting nothing. Scott caught her off balance, but she zapped him, and he slammed into a truck. Natasha stood up and faced me.

“Nat, I don’t want to fight you.” I said, in a fighting stance. 

“You shouldn’t have left.” She responded. We were both in a fighting stance, but neither of us was willing to make the first move. I turned and saw a truck flying towards us. I dived out of the way as it exploded and ran over to Scott and Steve, who caused the explosion.

“You couldn’t have done that when I was, say, not in the explosion zone?” I said. Scott looked down sheepishly and muttered something about water trucks. I let it go as we ran towards the hangar.

“There’s our ride!” Clint said, pointing to the quinjet. We sprinted for the hangar, but we stopped short a a stare of energy sliced across the runway. I looked up, and there was Vision. 

“Captain Rogers.” Vision began. “I know you believe what you’re doing is right. But, for test collective good, you must surrender now.” Tony’s whole team stood, facing us.

“What do we do, Cap?” I asked. After a long silence, Steve spoke.

“We fight.” He said. We began to move towards the other team. As we got closer, we broke into a run. 

I deflected rogue blasts and weapons from hitting my teammates. I saw Peter swinging on a web towards Wanda, and I blasted his web, causing him to fall. He shot a web at me, but I incinerated it with a blast. 

“Wow, that was cool.” Peter said. “How do those blasts even work? Is it genetics, is it-“ I cut him short.

“Look kid, I don’t know who you are or where Stark found you, but if you’re going be in this fight, you should probably focus.” I interrupted. I blasted the crate he was standing on, and he flipped down. I heard a yell, and I turned to see Bucky and T’Challa. T’Challa had his claws out, ready to go in for the kill. I blasted him, and when I turned back, Peter was gone. 

“We gotta draw out the flyers.” I heard Steve say over the comm. “I’ll take Vision. You get to the jet.” No way.

“No, you get to the jet!” Sam countered. “Both of you. The rest of us aren’t getting out of here.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, if we’re going to win this one, some of us might have to lose it.” I said. “This isn’t the real fight, Steve.”

“Alright, Sam, what’s the play?” Steve asked. 

“We need a diversion.” Sam explained. “Something big, really big.”

“I got something kinda big, but I can’t hold if very long.” Scott said. “On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half, don’t come back for me.” Wait wait wait, he was going to tear himself in half?!

“Are you sure about this, Scott?” I asked. “Tearing yourself in half does not seem like the best option.”

“I do it all the time.” Scott said, not sounding at all convincing. “I mean once, in a lab. Then I passed out.” I looked over, and all of a sudden, there was Scott. He had to be at least 60 feet tall.

“I guess that’s the signal.” Steve said in disbelief. He and Bucky ran for the hangar as Scott grabbed Rhodey and waved him in the air.

“Way to go, Tic Tac!” Sam yelled. I spotted Vision overhead, flying towards the hangar. I blasted him, and he tumbled down, but regained his balance on the ground.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, Piper.” Vision said in his annoyingly calm voice. 

“I’m pretty sure I do.” I said. He fired a blast from the Mind Stone, and I countered with one of my own. Above us, Tony, Rhodey, and Peter had managed to take Scott down, and he fell towards us. I sprinted out of the way so I wouldn’t get crushed. Once he was on the ground, Scott shrunk back to regular size. 

The quinjet took off. Tony and Rhodey chased it, with Sam chasing Tony and Rhodey. Vision fired a blast, intended to hit Sam, but he dodged, and it hit Rhodey in the chest plate. He started falling.

Tony and Sam dove after him, but he was falling too fast. I squeezed my eyes shut as he hit the ground. 

If he was dead, then it was our fault. What had we done?


	15. The Raft Prison

We were arrested. Luckily, Bucky and Steve got away, and we went willingly. However, Wanda was still not in complete control of her powers, so when the government agents tried to arrest her, some of them saw these crazy visions in their heads… they managed to contain her after that. 

We were brought to the Raft prison. It was in the middle of the ocean, and it was able to sink underwater. Sam, Clint, Scott, and I were put in relatively normal cells, but Wanda was kept in a maximum security cell because of her powers. 

They brought me to an interrogation room, and I sat at the table, my hands folded. I stared at the very obvious one-way mirror. 

Secretary Ross walked in, accompanied by two other agents. He sat down across from me.

“Hello Miss Maximoff.” Ross began. “I have a few questions for you.” I almost laughed. Did he seriously think I was going to answer any of his questions. 

“Where are Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes?” Ross asked. I smiled and stayed silent, which seemed to anger Ross. I wasn’t going to betray Steve. Ross got up and paced in front of me.

“Miss Maximoff, you are aware of what your actions have caused, correct?” Ross asked. I shrugged. He glared at me. 

“Secretary Ross, you are aware that I could control your mind, correct?” I asked. Of course, I would never control anyone’s mind, but he didn’t need to know that. 

“I’m going to make you an offer, Miss Maximoff.” Ross said. “You tell us where Rogers and Barnes are, and you walk free. You’d have to sign the Accords, of course, but you wouldn’t be in prison.”

“Sorry.” I said. “But I don’t betray my friends.”   
“Take her back to her cell.” Ross said to the agents. They each grabbed one of my arms and roughly escorted me back to my cell.

…

Tony was at the prison. He probably came to gloat, or something like that. He walked over to the cell area. And Clint began to clap mockingly.

“The futurist, ladies and gentlemen!” Clint said. “The futurist is here. He sees all. He knows what’s best for you, whether you like it or not.”

“Give me a break, Barton.” Tony said. “I had no idea they’d put you here. Come on.”

“Yeah, well, you knew they’d put us somewhere, Tony.” Clint said.

“Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey.” Tony replied. “You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for…”

“Criminals?” Clint said, standing up. “Criminals, Tony. I think that’s the word you’re looking for. Right? That didn’t used to be me. Or Sam, or Wanda, or Piper. But here we are.” 

“Because you broke the law.” Tony reasoned.

“Yeah.” Clint said.

“I didn’t make you.” Tony said. “You read it, you broke it. Alright, you’re all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don’t understand, why didn’t you think about. Them before you chose the wrong side.” Tony began to walk to the next cell.

“You gotta watch you’re back with this guy.” Clint called out. “There’s a chance he’s going to break it.” 

“Hank Pym always said, you can never trust a Stark.” Scott said as Tony passed him.

“Who are you?” Tony asked.

“Come on.” Scott said as Tony walked to my cell and stood in front of me.

“Come to gloat?” I asked bitterly. 

“Well, I was right.” Tony said. 

“You still think that?” I asked. “You still think that signing the Accords was the right thing to do? Signature or not, it’s only a matter of time before you are locked up too.”

“We’ll see about that.” Tony said, and he walked over to Sam’s cell. 

“How’s Rhodes?” Sam asked, his back turned.

“They’re flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow.” Tony said. “So… fingers crossed. What do you need? They feed you yet?” Sam turned around.

“You’re the good cop now?” Sam asked suspiciously.

“I’m just the guy who needs to know where Steve went.” Tony said. Yeah, good luck getting any information about that.

“Well, you better go bad cop, because you’re going to have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me.” Sam said.

“Oh, I just knocked the A out of their AV.” Tony said. “We got about 30 seconds before they realize it’s not their equipment.” Tony pulled up a hologram of something that I couldn’t see.

“Just look.” Tony said. I could see the hologram now. It was a dead man. “Because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes. Clearly I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong.” Woah, Tony Star admitting he was wrong?

“That’s a first.” Sam remarked.

“Cap is definitely off the reservation, but he’s about to need all the help he can get.” Tony said. “We don’t know each other very well. You don’t have to…”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Sam said. “Look, I’ll tell you, but you have to go alone, and as a friend.”

“Easy.” Tony said. Sam leaned in and whispered something. I hoped Tony really was being sincere about this. If not, we had just doomed the whole operation. 

…

A few days later, I sat in my cell, facing the wall. How long would we be here? How long would it be before there was another threat to humanity, and they needed us? 

The lights flickered, and then turned off. I stood up and looked around. I heard a few yells. What was happening?

I saw a silhouette coming towards us. As it came into focus, I smiled. 

It was Steve. 

He threw his shield at the cell, creating a hole. I climbed out and blasted the other cells and Wanda came running down next to Steve. 

“I have a quinjet.” Steve said. “Follow me.” We followed him to a hangar and got into the quinjet. To my surprise, Natasha was in the pilot’s seat.

“Came to your senses?” I asked. 

“You’re hilarious.” Nat said sarcastically. “Strap in.” We did so, and we flew away from the prison and into open sky. We were fugitives now, but we were a team.


	16. A New Fight Begins

2018

“She hasn’t checked in since last month.” Steve said. “Can you track her, Piper?” The person in question was Wanda. Our teams, consisting of Steve, Natasha, Wanda, Sam, and me, had been on the run for two years. Wanda requested to branch off from us. We let her, but she was supposed to check in with us frequently, and she hadn’t done so. 

“Yeah, I’ll try.” I said. I closed my eyes and used my telepathy to try and find Wanda. The trick was to look for other telepathic signatures, because there were not many telepaths in the world. Eventually, I locked on. 

“Scotland.” I said. “She’s in Scotland, with Vision.” They looked surprised, and Steve was about to say something when we heard the ringtone of a phone.

Steve pulled an old flip phone, which was the source of the ringing. He flipped it open and accepted the call.

“Hello?” Steve asked. The voice on the other end was not the one I expected to hear.

“Steve.” Bruce said. Natasha’s eyes widened when she heard his voice. “Steve, you gotta listen to me. Thanos is coming for the Infinity Stones. You have to get to Vision now.” Steve closed the phone.

“Convenient timing.” Natasha muttered. It kind of was.

“I guess we’re going to Scotland.” Sam said. He and Natasha got in the pilot and co-pilot’s seats, and we took off. 

About 3/4 of the way through the ride, I felt a stabbing pain in my head. I clutched my head and yelled in pain.

“Pipes, are you okay?” Steve asked. 

“Wanda just sent out a telepathic distress signal.” I said. “We might be too late.” We landed in Scotland, and I tracked Wanda to a train station.

“Alright, here’s the plan.” Steve said. “Sam, go left, Piper and Natasha, go right. I’ll make the first move.” We did as he said. Nat and I were lying in wait on the right side of the station.

Vision was propped up against a railing, wounded. Wanda stood in front of him, prepared to fight. She faced the two aliens, Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight. 

A train passed by, getting their attention. I could tell that Steve was behind that train. He had waited so his entrance could be sensational. 

“Steve Rogers, king of dramatic entrances.” I muttered. Natasha chuckled quietly. 

When the train passed, Proxima threw her weapon at Steve, but he caught it. He signaled to us, and we came out of our hiding places. Proxima ran at us, but I blasted her back, right to where Sam was waiting. Steve threw Proxima’s weapon to Natasha, and she began to fight Corvus.

Proxima summoned her weapon back to her, leaving Natasha weaponless. I blasted Corvus’ glaive out of his hand, where it was picked up by Steve. I blasted Corvus back, right into his own glaive. 

Corvus inched away, his wound inhibiting him. Proxima stood over him. Sam pointed his guns at them.

“Get up.” Proxima said.  
“I can’t.” Glaive replied. 

“We don’t wanna kill you.” Natasha said. 

“But we will.” I added. Nat grinned at that .

“You’ll never get the chance again.” Proxima said. A beam of light appeared, summoning Proxima and Corvus back to their ship. As soon as the beam disappeared, they were gone. 

We ran over to Vision and Wanda. Sam helped Vision get up and supported him as he walked. 

“Are you okay?” I asked Wanda. She nodded, keeping her head down.

“Thank you, Captain.” Vision said. 

“Let’s get you on the jet.” Steve said, after a moment’s hesitation. Once we were all on the jet, we took off, knowing we couldn’t stay.

“I thought we had a deal.” Natasha said, addressing Wanda. “Stay close, check in, don’t take any chances.”

“I’m sorry.” Wanda said. “We just wanted time.”

“Where too, Cap?” Sam asked from the cockpit.   
“Home.” Steve said, looking out on the horizon. 

…

Avengers Compound. It had been a while since I was there. We walked into the main building. Rhodey was there, and he was having a conversation with a hologram of Secretary Ross. 

“Mr. Secretary.” Steve said. 

“You got some nerve, I’ll give you that.” Ross said. 

“You could use some of that right now.” Natasha replied.

“The world’s on fire, and you think all is forgiven?” Ross asked, incredulous.

“I’m not looking for forgiveness.” Steve said. “And I’m way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we’re here to fight. And if you want to stand in our way, we’ll fight you too.”

“Arrest them.” Ross said to Rhodey. The hologram disappeared.

“That’s a court-martial.” Rhodey said. His face broke into a grin. “It’s great to see you, Cap.” 

“You too Rhodey.” Steve said. Rhodey turned, and his leg braces became more visible from when we were fighting each other. 

“Well, you guys really look like crap.” Rhodey said. “Must’ve been a rough couple of years.”

“Yeah, well the hotels weren’t exactly five star.” I said, only partly joking.

“I think you look great.” Said a voice from the corner of the room. We turned, and saw that it was Bruce. “Uh, hey. Yeah, I’m back.”

“Hi Bruce.” Nat said awkwardly.

“Nat.” Bruce replied, even more awkward. It took all of my self control not to laugh. 

“This is awkward.” Sam whispered. 

… 

We were in a different room, trying to figure out what to do about Thanos. 

“So, we gotta assume they’re coming back, right?” Rhodey said.

“And they can clearly find us.” Wanda added.

“We need all hands on deck.” Bruce said. “Where’s Clint.”

“After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal.” Natasha explained. “It was too tough on their families, they’re on house arrest.”

“Who’s Scott?” Bruce asked. I had forgotten that he wasn’t here for the Sokovia Accords.

“Ant-Man.” I explained.

“There’s an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?” Bruce asked. I nodded. Things had gotten a little more complicated since he went missing. “Okay look, Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he’s not gonna stop until he gets… Vision’s stone.”

“Well then we have to protect it.” Natasha said. 

“No, we have to destroy it.” Vision said. “I’ve been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its true nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps, its molecular integrity could fail.” He looked at Wanda and me. Of course. Part of our power was from the Mind Stone, and we could possibly destroy it. 

“And you with it.” Wanda said. “We’re not having this conversation.”

“Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can’t get it.” Vision reasoned. 

“That’s too high a price.” Wanda said, her voice breaking. 

“Only you have the power to pay it.” Vision said. No, not only her. Vision glanced at me. Wanda was more powerful, and I knew that. But I would be able to destroy it. “Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him.”

“But it should.” Steve said. “We don’t trade lives, Vision.”

“Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people.” Vision said. “Tell me, why is this any different?”

“Because you might have a choice.” Bruce piped up. “Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another.”

“You’re saying Vision isn’t just the Stone?” Wanda asked. 

“I’m saying that if we take out the stone, there’s still a whole lot of Vision left, perhaps the best parts.” Bruce said.

“Can we even do that?” I asked. “Can we remove the Stone safely?” 

“Not me, not here.” Bruce said.

“You’d better find someone, somewhere fast.” Rhodey said. “Ross isn’t exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back.”  
“I know someone.” Steve said.


	17. Arriving in Wakanda

Once again, we were in the quinjet. We were headed to Wakanda, the one place where they could remove the Infinity Stone safely.

“I hope you’re right about this, Cap.” Sam said from the pilot’s seat. “Or we’re going to land a lot faster than you want to.” I braced myself as we flew through the camouflaged force field surrounding Wakanda. 

It was a breathtaking sight. The city was beautiful, full of technology that I couldn’t even fathom. 

We landed on a large landing platform. T’Challa walked out to greet us, along with the Dora Milaje, his all-female warriors. 

“Seems like I’m always thanking you for something.” Steve said as he shook T’Challa’s hand. Behind me, Bruce bowed awkwardly. 

“What are you doing?” Rhodey asked. 

“Uh, we don’t to that here.” T’Challa said. I looked back and saw Rhodey smirk. “So, how big of an assault can we expect.” We started to walk into the main building.

“Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault.” Bruce said. That was putting it mildly.

“How are we looking?” Natasha asked.

“You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and…” T’Challa trailed off. I turned to see Bucky walking towards us, with a new and improved metal arm.

“A semi-stable 100-year-old man.” Bucky said, grinning. Steve and Bucky hugged. 

“How you been, Buck?” Steve asked. 

“Not bad for the end of the world.” Bucky replied. T’Challa led us to a lab where his sister, Shuri, was studying Vision. 

“Whoa. The structure is polymorphic.” She said, looking at a diagram of the Stone in Vision’s head.

“Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially.” Bruce said. I honestly didn’t understand a word of what they were saying.

“Why didn’t you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?” Shuri asked. We all looked at Bruce, waiting for an answer.

“Because we didn’t think of it.” Bruce said uncertainly. 

“I’m sure you did your best.” Shuri remarked. 

“Can you do it?” Wanda asked, worried. 

“Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures.” She said. She turned to T’Challa. “It will take time, brother.”

“How long?” I asked.

“As long as you can give me.” Shuri replied. A small beeping noise went off, and Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje, flicked a bead into her palm, where a hologram showed up.

“Something’s entered the atmosphere.” She said.

“Hey Cap, we got a situation here.” Sam said over the comm. I looked out the window to see an alien vessel slam into the force field. 

More vessels fell from the sky, hitting the ground just outside the dome. 

“It’s too late.” Vision said weakly, struggling to get off the table. “We need to destroy the Stone now.”

“Vision, get your ass back on the table.” I said. I lightly blasted him, and he laid back down. 

“We will hold them off.” T’Challa said. 

“Wanda, as soon as the stone’s out of his head, you blow it to hell.” Steve said.

“I will.” Wanda replied. 

I walked out of the room, following the Dora Milaje. Natasha and Steve were close behind me.

“Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses.” T’Challa said. He then pointed to Steve. “And get this man a shield.”

We walked down to an armory to get the necessary weapons. My weapons were my blasts, but it wouldn’t hurt to have some backups. I picked up a small sword and weighed it in my hand. It felt right and balanced. 

I attached it to my belt, ready to pull it out if I needed to. 

Steve walked up next to me. He had two twin shields on each arm.

“Pipes,” He began. “This Thanos is going to show up sooner or later, and from what we’ve heard, brute force may not be enough.”

“What are you saying?” I asked, even though I knew what he was about to ask. 

“You can get inside his head, you can control him and shut him down.” Steve said. 

“Steve, it’ll be no trouble to read his mind, but to control it?” I said. “I’m not strong enough to do that, I’ve never been strong enough.”

“Then find the strength in you.” He said. With that, he moved on to see more weapons. 

It was hard enough for me to control a regular person’s mind with their consent. But this… I couldn’t do this.

Could I? 

…

We were on transports, being shuttled to the battlefield. Natasha stood next to me, looking as calm as ever. I tried to mimic her expression, blank of emotions and worry. 

Bruce ran next to us in the Hulkbuster armor, since the Hulk didn’t seem to want to come out and fight.

“How we looking, Bruce?” Natasha asked. His reply came over the comm.

“Yeah, I think I’m getting the hang of it.” Bruce said. “Wow! It’s like being the Hulk without actually-“ He was cut short as he promptly tripped and fell. Despite myself, I let out a small laugh. 

“I’m okay.” He said, standing up. “I’m okay.” 

“I got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line.” Rhodey said, flying above us. Thanos’ warriors, no doubt. Steve, T’Challa, and Natasha went to the border line to greet them.

The rest of us stood on the battlefield, holding our positions. I squinted to see what was happening.

Suddenly, the vessels raised themselves out of the ground as the three of them walked back. 

Thanos’ alien army, the Outriders, poured out of the vessels and charged towards the barrier.

“What the hell?” Bucky muttered. Natasha took her place next to me.

“Well that went well.” I said sarcastically.

“Looks like we pissed her off.” She replied. The Outriders reached the force field and pushed themselves through, but they were cut in half.

“They’re killing themselves.” Okoye said, horrified. A few made it through the barrier, and the Kingsguard used their sonic spears to hold them back. I blasted a few, but at the long range, my blasts weren’t as powerful.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some Outriders running to the other end of the barrier. They were circling behind us.

“Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us, there’s nothing between them and Vision.” Bruce said.  
“Then we better keep ‘em in front of us?” Steve said grimly.

“How will we do that?” I asked. 

“We open the barrier.” T’Challa said. He spoke into his own comm. “On my signal, open North-West Section Seventeen.”

“Requesting confirmation, my King.” Said a female voice from Dome Control. “You said open the barrier?”

“On my signal.’ T’Challa said.

“This will be the end of Wakanda.” M’Baku, leader of the Jabari tribe, said. 

“Then it will be the noblest ending in history.” Okoye replied. 

“WAKANDA FOREVER!” T’Challa yelled as the barrier opened. We ran into battle, ready to face the army.

The Battle of Wakanda had begun.


	18. The Battle of Wakanda

I ran into the battle, along with the entire army. Steve and T’Challa were already way ahead of us, and they literally leapt into battle. 

The Outriders charged also, many and fast. I held out my hands, blasts at full power. The Outriders didn’t seem to have a plan of attack, their plan just was to attack. 

I guess they were attracted to the glowing light of my blasts, because a whole lot of them were headed my way. In a bold move, I turned directly to the swarm, deadly light erupting from my hands. 

But I had left my back unguarded. 

The first slash grazed me, but the second one cut deep. I whirled around to see two more Outriders. 

I kept one hand outstretched towards the swarm of Outriders, still blasting. With my other hand, I grabbed the sword from my belt and sliced the two Outriders in half. 

I had no time to be proud of myself, because the swarm of Outriders had gotten to me. I was surrounded, and I couldn’t blast them all.

A blinding column of light came down a few feet from where I was standing. From the column, an axe flew out, wreathed with lightning. It tore through the Outriders surrounding me, and the ones surrounding everyone.

The axe flew back to where the column of light was, but the column was fading. 

In its place was a raccoon wielding a gun, a sentient tree-thing, and, best of all, Thor himself. 

Bruce opened the Hulkbuster armor’s helm and laughed.

“You guys are so screwed now!” He yelled, and Thanos’s army gaped. 

“BRING ME THANOS!” Thor yelled. He leaped into the air and charged into battle, lightning surrounding him. His eyes glowed with the power as he brought is axe down on the ground, killing the Outriders that were within range.

Rejuvenated, the battle resumed. My blasts were as powerful as ever, incinerating any Outrider that came close. 

Just when things seemed to be going our way, the ground started to rumble. From under the ground, alien Threshers (spiked and motorized wheels) came at us in so many sets that I couldn’t count. 

“Fall back!” T’Challa yelled. “Fall back now!” Ignoring that order, I focused on the nearest set and blasted them at full force. It seemed to be working, at they reared back. 

However, that was only one set.

I sprinted over to Natasha and Okoye, who had a few sets heading their way. I ran as fast as I could, but I couldn’t get there in time.

Just when it seemed that they were about to be crushed, Wanda landed in front of them, her eyes glowing red. She telekinetically lifted the Threshers, and then threw them down on the mob of incoming Outriders. 

“Why was she up there all this time?” Okoye asked as she flipped her spear. 

“Guys, we got a Vision situation here.” I heard Sam say over the comm. I looked behind me to see Vision and Corvus Glaive fighting on the roof of the lab building. They pitched backward and fell into the trees below.

“Somebody get to Vision!” Steve yelled. I wasn’t exactly in a position to do that. Cull Obsidian was swinging his enormous hammer right at me, and it took all my force to push it and him back. 

“On my way.” Wanda said, but she was cut off. Worried, I turned to see Proxima Midnight standing over Wanda in a ditch, having just wounded her.

Oh no you don’t, I thought. I blasted Obsidian out of the way and ran towards Wanda. Natasha and Okoye fell into step beside me.

“He’ll die alone.” I heard Proxima say as we approached. “As will you.” The three of us wordlessly dropped into the ditch.

“She’s not alone.” I said. Proxima turned to face me, and then Okoye and Natasha on the other side of her. She let out a battle cry and charged at me.

I blasted her back, right to Okoye and Natasha, who were waiting. Proxima slashed with her weapon, but Natasha blocked it with her staff. 

I drew my sword, and I attacked Proxima from behind. She parried it, as well as a blow from Okoye’s spear.

We all ducked as a Thresher rolled over us, and Proxima used that distraction to her advantage. She kicked Natasha, sending her sprawling, and punched Okoye, doing the same. 

Proxima moved to stab Natasha, but I stopped it with my own sword. I blasted her, but she dodged and hit me in the face with the but of her sword. I recoiled, and Proxima thrust her sword at Natasha, who barely blocked it with her staff.

Red energy surrounded Proxima, and she was lifted into the air against her will. I turned and saw that this was Wanda’s doing. 

A Thresher rolled over us, right into Proxima. Blue blood splattered all over us, which was absolutely disgusting. 

“That was really gross.” Natasha remarked as we sighed with relief. 

“Vision.” Wanda suddenly said, and she sprinted in the direction of the lab building. Natasha and I glanced at each other for a second, and then we ran after her. 

Wanda knelt next to Vision, who was badly wounded. The rest of us stood in front of them. There was an odd feeling in the air. The wind was making everything shift, and the whole area seemed eerie. 

“Everyone, on my position.” Steve said. “We have incoming.” Thanos.

A blue-black cloud gathered on the ground. Out of it stepped a giant purple alien wearing gleaming golden armor. There was a gauntlet on his hand, with five of the six Infinity Stones.

“Eyes up, stay sharp.” Steve said. Then he spoke quieter, to me. “Piper, you know what to do.” But would I be able to do it? 

Bruce reached him first, but Thanos, using the Space Stone, turned him intangible and half-trapped him in the stone of the cliffs. 

The Power Stone was used to send Steve flying back before he could even land a blow. T’Challa leaped at him, but Thanos grabbed him by the neck and punched him into the ground. 

Sam swooped in, but Thanos used the Reality Stone to turn his wings too rubber, and he fell. 

A red light erupted behind me, and I turned to see Wanda’s outstretched hand, her power destroying the Stone in Vision’s head. 

Control, control, control. It was the only thought running through my head. My fellow heroes were dropping like flies. All our power wasn’t enough. 

But I still had one trick left up my sleeve. 

I extended my telepathic power until it reached Thanos. Control. He stumbled slightly when it hit him. I focused on his mind. Control. For my fellow Avengers, lying defeated in front of me. Control. For my sister, having to destroy the person she loved. Control. For the universe, for everyone at stake. 

I could feel his mind slowly coming into my power. I didn’t look at his thoughts. I didn’t want to know what they were

But then, in one last desperate attempt on his part, the Reality Stone shimmered. 

It was desperate, but it was enough. 

My telepathic sense was gone, warped by the power of the Reality Stone. Thanos lumbered towards me. I tried to blast him, but nothing was working.

The sword, Piper, the sword! My mind screamed at me. But I couldn’t move, I was stuck. 

I couldn’t do anything as Thanos threw me into a tree so hard that it cracked. 

My telepathy was there again, but it was weak. I could barely read a mind, let alone control Thanos. 

It was up to Wanda now. 

Steve, somehow still conscious, slid in front of Thanos, blocking his path. He held back the Gauntlet, yelling in effort. 

Thanos simply punched him, rendering him useless. 

Wanda extended a hand towards Thanos, blasting him back with her telekinetic power. She was sobbing as the Stone was being destroyed, the last pieces of Vision chipping away. 

The Stone cracked, and Vision’s entire body exploded. 

When the dust cleared, Wanda was on her knees, sobbing. I inched towards her, wanting to comfort her in my weak state. 

“I understand, my child.” Thanos said, walk-in over to her. “Better than anyone.”

“You could never.” Wanda snarled. 

“Today, I lost more than you can know.” Thanos replied. “But now is no time to mourn. Now… is no time at all.” He reached forward, using the power of the Time Stone to turn back time in one particular spot.

The spot where Vision was.

Vision appeared before him, with the Stone still intact.

“No!” Wanda screamed. She lunged towards Vision, but Thanos swatted her away.

He picked up Vision, and with his free hand, he ripped the Stone out of his head.

Vision flopped to the floor, his skin a sickly shade of gray. Thanos gently placed the Mind Stone into the Gauntlet, and his entire body flowed with the power of the Infinity Stones. 

A massive bolt of lighting streaked down at Thanos, followed by Thor, swinging his axe. Thanos sent a full Infinity Stone blast at Thor, but Thor threw his axe through the blast and into Thanos’s chest. He landed next to the wounded Thanos.

“I told you.” Thor said vengefully. “You’d die for that!” He forced his axe further into Thanos’s chest, and Thanos screamed in pain. I relished the sound. 

“You.. you should have… you.” Thanos said. He suddenly had a burst of strength. “You should have gone for the head.”

He raised his gauntlet and snapped his fingers.

No no no. 

“What did you do?” Thor said angrily. “WHAT DID YOU DO?” Thanos teleported away, leaving the axe, covered in Thanos’s blood. 

Fighting pain, I stood up. Steve limped over.

“Where’d he go.” Steve asked, his voice full of dread. “Thor… where did he go?”

“Steve?” Bucky said. I turned to see Bucky stumble and fall, turning to ash. I gasped. Where Bucky was standing was only a pile of dust.

Steve touched the ground where Bucky was standing, horrified. 

Thanos had accomplished his goal.

Wanda. She has to be alive, please let her be alive. 

I sprinted to where I saw her last. She seemed fine… for now. Tears poured from her eyes, and she ran into my embrace. I hugged her tightly, willing her to stay with me. 

And then I was hugging nothing. 

“No.” I whispered, staring at the dust in my hands. “NO! Please, please no, take me instead, please…” I stumbled, my eyes clouded by tears. 

Let me disappear, please let me die. 

But I didn’t. I stayed right where I was. 

“Piper? Wanda?” I heard Natasha say behind me. I turned, my hands still covered in the dust that used to be my little sister. 

Her expression darkened when she realized what had happened. Without a word, she embraced me, knowing that we shared grief for our loved ones. 

We went back to a clearing where the survivors were. 

Steve was there, as well as Thor, Rhodey, Bruce, and Rocket (the alien raccoon). 

“What is this?” Rhodey asked. “What the hell is happening?”

“Oh God.” Steve whispered. Half the universe. Half the universe was dead.

We failed. I failed.


	19. A Desperate Attempt to Fix Everything

It had been three weeks. 

Three weeks since Thanos wiped out half of the universe. Three weeks since we had failed.

The only glimpse of hope we had was the arrival of Carol Danvers, with her amazing cosmic powers. She had gone into space now, in search of Tony and the rest of his team. Hopefully at least some of them were still alive. 

I stared at the numbers, rapidly climbing. The death count. 

Your fault, your fault, your fault. 

I chased those thoughts from my head, knowing that they wouldn’t help right now. 

“Coffee?” Said a voice from behind me. I turned and saw that it was Natasha. 

“Thanks.” I said, gladly accepting the warm drink. 

“You haven’t slept in days, Pipes.” Natasha said. “You should rest.”

“I can rest after we figure this out.” I replied, drinking the warm coffee. She was right, though. In these three weeks, I had barely slept or ate at all. 

We stood in silence for a few minutes, watching the numbers rise.

The room began to shake. I steadied myself against a table, wondering what it could be.

Had Carol found survivors?

I rushed outside, along with Nat, Steve, Bruce, and Rhodey. Pepper, Tony’s fiancée, was already there. I felt so bad for her, not knowing if the man she loved was alive or dead. 

The spaceship came into view, with Carol holding it up. She landed it on the grass, and the glow of her powers faded. 

The entry hatch opened, revealing Tony and Nebula, one of the Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Steve and Pepper ran over to them. Steve and Tony exchanged a few words, and then Pepper embraced him, tearful.

Rocket sat down next to Nebula. I realized that they were the only Guardians left. They held hands, mourning the loss of their family.

We brought Tony back inside, and he was given blood so he could heal. There was a hologram, flashing the faces of the people who died. We were explaining the whole situation to Tony.

“It’s been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth.” Rhodey said. 

“World governments are in pieces.” Natasha added. “The parts that are still working are trying to take a census. And it looks like he did… he did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures.”

I winced as Wanda’s face appeared on one of the screens. My little sister, who I swore to protect. I failed her, I failed the entire universe. 

Your fault, your fault, your fault. 

“Where is he now?” Tony asked. “Where?”

“We don’t know.” Steve answered. “He just opened a portal and walked through.” Tony glanced at Thor, who was sitting on a bench, behind glass. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Tony asked.

“Oh, he’s pissed.” Rocket said. “He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there’s a lot of that going around, ain’t there.”

“Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear.” Tony said. Well, at least his sense of humor survived. 

“Maybe I am.” Rocket sighed. 

“We’ve been hunting Thanos for weeks now.” Steve said. “Deep space scans, satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him.”

“Who told you that?” Tony asked, surprised. “I didn’t fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the Stone. That’s what happened. There was no fight.”

“Okay.” Steve said.

“He’s unbeatable.” Tony continued. 

“Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?” Steve asked, starting to sound desperate. 

“Pfft!” Tony said, making a ‘no’ motion with his hand. “I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn’t wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming.”

“Tony, I’m gonna need you to focus.” Steve said.

“And I needed you.” Tony seethed. “As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It’s too late buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?” He abruptly stood up, pushing things off the table. “I need to shave. And I remember telling you… alive and otherwise, what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not, that’s what we needed!”

“Well that didn’t work out, did it?” Steve said. 

“I said ‘we’d lose.’” Tony said “You said ‘we’ll do that together too.’ And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren’t there. But that’s what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We’re the Avengers, we’re the Avengers. Not the Prevengers.”

“You made your point.” Rhodey said, slightly exasperated. “Just sit down.”

“Okay…” Tony said.

“Okay?” Rhodey said skeptically. 

“No.” Tony replied. “Here’s my point. You know what?”

“Tony, you’re sick.” Rhodey reasoned.

“She’s great, by the way.” Tony said, referring to Carol. We need you. You’re new blood. Bunch of tired old mules! I got nothing for you, Cap! No coordinates, not clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar.” 

I thought he might be losing his mind. 

He ripped his Arc Reactor from his chest and shoved it into Steve’s hand.

“Here, take this.” Tony said. You find him, and you put that on. You hide.” He collapsed to the floor.

“Tony!” Steve said.

“I’m fine…” Tony trailed off. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.

…

We had put Tony in a bed, with Pepper at his side. 

“Bruce gave him a sedative.” Rhodey said, walking into the room. “He’s probably gonna be out for the rest of the day.”

“You guys take care of him.” Carol said. “And I’ll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back.” She walked away.

“Um, where exactly are you going?” I asked. 

“To kill Thanos.” She said without looking back. Natasha and I glanced at each other and then walked after her.

“Hey, you know, we usually works as a team here, and between you and I, morale’s a little fragile.” Nat said. 

“We get that outer space is ‘your territory’ but this is our fight too.” I added. 

“Do you even know where he is?” Rhodey asked from behind us.

“I know people who might.” Carol said. 

“Don’t bother.” Nebula said. She had been standing in the corner, preferring to be alone. I can tell you where Thanos is.” We made our way back to the main room, and she told us what she knew.

“Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me.” Nebula said. “And when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I’d ask where would we go once his plan was complete. And his answer was always the same. ‘To the Garden.’”

“That’s cute, Thanos has a retirement plan.” I muttered. I guess my sense of humor had survived as well.

“So where is he?” Steve asked. Rocket stepped on the table, showing a hologram.

“When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions.” Rocket said. “No one’s ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago, on this planet.” He pointed to a planet on the hologram.

“Thanos is there.” Nebula said.

“He used the Stones again.” Nat said, worried.

“Hey hey hey.” Bruce said. “We’d be going in short-handed, you know.”

“Look, he’s still got the Stones so…” Rhodey trailed off.

“So let’s get him.” Carol said. “And use them to bring everyone back.”  
“Just like that?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Steve said. “Just like that.”

“Even if there’s a small chance that we can undo this… I mean we owe it to everyone who’s not in this room to try.” Natasha said. She was right. For Wanda, Sam, countless others. 

“If we do this, how do we know it’s gonna end any differently than it did before?” Bruce asked. Ending in failure, he meant. 

“Because before, you didn’t have me.” Carol said. Wow, she had more faith in herself than the rest of us combined had in ourselves. 

“Hey, new girl, everyone in here is about that superhero life.” Rhodey said. “And if you don’t mind me asking, where the hall have you been all this time?”

“There are a lot of other planets in the universe.” Carol explained. “And unfortunately, they didn’t have you guys.”

Thor, who had been eating Hawaiian rolls, stood up and faced Carol. Without a word, he held out his had and his axe, Stormbreaker, flew to his hand, missing her by inches. Carol didn’t flinch, not even a little but. 

“I like this one.” Thor said.

“Let’s go get this son of a bitch.” Steve said.

…

We were all in the Guardians’s spaceship, the Benatar, prepared to go to “The Garden.”

“Okay, who hear hasn’t been to space?” Rocket asked. I raised my hand along with Steve, Natasha, and Rhodey.

“You better not throw up on my ship.” Rocket grumbled.

“Approaching jump in 3... 2… 1!” Nebula said. The ship jumped into a wormhole, going faster than I ever imagined. This was exhilarating, this was amazing. 

The ship slowed to a stop in front of the planet. Carol flew out into space.

“I’ll head down for recon.” She said. The rest of us unstrapped ourselves from our seats and prepared for what was coming. 

A few minutes later, Carol returned, with a slightly confused expression on her face. 

“No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defense of any kind.” She said. “It’s just him.”

“And that’s enough.” Nebula replied. 

We made our descent, far enough away from Thanos that he would’t be able to spot us.

Carol flew ahead, ready to overpower Thanos. Bruce, with his Hulkbuster armor, followed. Thor flew in and sliced off Thanos’s hand, the one with the glove. Rhodey and Rocket went next. 

Finally, Steve walked into Thanos’s hut, flanked by Natasha and me. I stared at him murderously. I wanted to kill him right then and there. He looked weak and wounded. Good.

Rocket rolled the Gauntlet over and, to my horror, the Stones weren’t there.

“Oh no.” Rocket whispered. 

“Where are they?” Steve asked. 

“Answer the question!” Carol said.

“The universe required correction.” Thanos said. “After that, the Stones served no purpose, beyond temptation.”

“You murdered trillions!” Bruce shouted. He shoved Thanos against the ground, furious. 

“You should be grateful.” Thanos said. His words made me want to puke.

“Where are the Stones?” I asked, my voice shaking. This had to work, we had to bring everyone back. 

“Gone.” Thanos said. “Reduced to atoms.” No, that couldn’t be possible. They had to be here.

“You used them two days ago!” Bruce argued.

“I used the Stones to destroy the Stones.” Thanos explained. “It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am… inevitable.” 

“We have to tear this place apart he- he has to be lying.” Rhodey said. 

“My father is many things.” Nebula said. “A liar is not one of them.”

“Ah, thank you, daughter.” Thanos said. Nebula flinched. “Perhaps I treated you too harshly.”  
Suddenly, with a swing of Stormbreaker, Thor chopped Thanos’s head clean off. Blood splattered on Nebula’s face, and she wiped it off.

“What… what did you do?” Rocket asked.

“I went for the head.” Thor replied, recalling the words Thanos had said to him three weeks ago, when we all failed. 

Thor walked out of the hut, getting blurrier and blurrier as he left. I realized the blur was my tears, tears for the ones we had lost and were never getting back.


	20. Another Chance, Five Years Later

2023

I pulled out my apartment keys as I climbed the stairs, cursing the broken elevator. Five flights of stairs were not fun to walk up. 

I sighed with relief when I finally reached the fifth floor. Apartment 5A, that was where I lived now. A small apartment building in the rebuilt country of Sokovia. 

My home country had been through a lot in the past decade. It was always a poor country, and then it was blown up. The people were almost done rebuilding when Thanos happened. 

But after five years, it was basically restored. 

After Thanos was killed, I left the Avengers. I thought I would just be gone for a few months to figure my life out. I came here, and I helped rebuild. I had gotten a job at a coffee place, I had an apartment, and I was doing alright. 

So I decided to stay away from the Avengers. 

Natasha used to drop by every now and then, but she stopped coming three years ago. She probably had better things to do. 

As I was unlocking the door, I telepathically sensed that there was someone in the room. I quickly opened the door, ready to face whoever broke in. 

Steve Rogers stared back at me. 

I sighed, closing the door behind me. 

“What do you want?” I asked, hanging up my coat and throwing the keys on a table. He sat in a small armchair, and I plopped myself down on a stool.

“Can’t I just come by to check on a friend?” He asked. 

“I guess you could, but you wouldn’t.” I replied. “I’m not worth the trip.” 

“Pipes, we think we found a way.” Steve said. “A way to bring them back.” A way to fix our failure. I wondered if it was really possible. 

“A-are you serious?” I managed to choke out. He nodded. “That’s impossible.”

“We can do it.” He insisted. “We can travel back in time, and we can get the Stones.” 

“Time travel?” I scoffed. 

“I know it sounds crazy, but we can do it.” Steve said. “We can snap our fingers, we can undo what happened.”

“Even if you can, I don’t know why you’re coming to me.” I said. “I’m no hero. I’m just a failed experiment, trying to survive in a broken world.”

“Piper.” Steve said, dead serious. “You are not a failure. I know you blame yourself for what happened-“

“Because it was my fault.” I interjected. 

“-but now we have the chance to make things right.” He finished. “Will you help us?” I hesitated to answer. What if we ended up making things worse? What if we failed yet again? What if-

No. No more what if’s. 

“I’m in.” I said, a grin spreading on my face. 

…

I walked though the Avengers Compound. The team was there (at least, the ones that were still alive), and things felt almost normal. 

Everyone had changed, although some more noticeably. Thor had, uh, gained a whole lot of weight, his beard grew a lot, and his hair was long, ratty, and tangled. Clint had been enacting vengeance on the world for the past five years after his entire family died when Thanos snapped. 

I was talking to Bruce, Steve, and Rhodey when Scott walked in, wearing the time travel suit. It was white and red, similar to his Ant-Man suit.

“Time travel suit?” I said. “Not bad.” Bruce moved to put the Pym Particles in the correct compartment.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Scott said, stepping away. “Easy!”

“I’m being very careful.” Bruce said.

“No, you’re being very Hulky.” Scott retorted. 

“I’m being careful!” Bruce insisted.

“These are Pym Particles, alright?” Scott said, holding them up. “And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We’re not making any more.”

“Scott, calm down.” Rhodey said.

“Sorry.” Scott replied. “We’ve got enough for one round-trip each. That’s it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs.” Scott pressed a button, shrunk, and came back to normal size. “One test run.” I sighed.

“Alright, I’m not ready for this.” Scott said. 

“I’m game.” Clint said from behind us. “I’ll do it.”

He put the time travel suit on, prepared to go. 

“Wait a second, let me ask you something.” Rhodey said to Bruce. “If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don’t we just find baby Thanos, you know, and…” He made a hand gesture suggesting that we should strangle baby Thanos. 

“First of all, that’s horrible.” Bruce said, disgusted.

“It’s Thanos.” Rhodey said in a tone that suggested we were all thinking of that. I’ll admit, it did cross my mind a few times.

“And secondly, time doesn’t work like that.” Bruce said. “Changing the past doesn’t change the future.”

“Look, we go back, we get the Stones before Thanos gets them… Thanos doesn’t have the Stones.” Scott said. “Problem solved.”

“Bingo.” Clint said.

“That’s not how it works.” Nebula explained, exasperated.

“Well, that’s what I heard.” Clint said.

“What? By who?” Bruce asked. “Who told you that?”

“Star Trek, Terminator, TimeCop, Time After Time-“ Rhodey listed off time travel movies. 

“Quantum Leap-“ Scott added.

“A Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time-“ Rhodey continued.

“Hot Tub Time Machine-“ Scott interjected.

“Hot Tub Time Machine, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” Rhodey finished. “Basically any movie that deals with time travel.” 

“Die Hard?” Scott muttered. “No, that’s not one…”

“This is known.” Rhodey said.

“I don’t know why everyone believes that, but that isn’t true.” Bruce said. “Think about it” If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past. Which now can’t be changed by your new future.” Um, what?

“Exactly.” Nebula said. 

“Yeah, you lost me at… well I didn’t understand that at all.” I said. My head hurt from all that logic thinking.

“So… Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit?” Scott asked.

Bruce turned to Clint, who was standing in the center of the time machine.”

“Alright Clint.” Bruce said. “We’re going in 3… 2… 1.” Clint disappeared into the quantum realm. “And returning in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.” 

Clint rematerialized on the glass, breathing heavily. We all ran on, Natasha reaching him first.

“Hey, hey look at me.” She said. “You okay?” He held up a baseball glove in response.

“It worked.” He said. “It worked.” 

We could actually do this. We could bring them back.


	21. The Time Heist

We were in the command room, ready to begin planning the Time Heist. 

“Okay, so the ‘how’ works.” Steve said. “Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones.”

“Well I’d substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones.” Tony remakes.

“I haven’t.” Scott said. “I don’t even know what the hell you’re all talking about.”

“Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history.” Bruce said.

“Our history.” Tony added. “So, not a lot fo convenient spots to just drop in.”

“Which means we have to pick our targets.” Clint said.

“Correct.” Tony replied. 

“Let’s start with the Aether.” Steve said. The Reality Stone. “Thor, what do you know?” We all looked at Thor, who was sitting on a chair. He was wearing sunglasses, so it was impossible to tell whether he was sleeping or not.

“Is he asleep?” I asked. 

“No.” Rhodey said. “I’m pretty sure he’s dead.” Thor woke up with a start and made his way over to the holo-board.

“Where to start?” Thor said. “Um, the Aether, first is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It’s more of a… an angry sludge thing so… someone needs to amend that. Here’s an interesting story though, my grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves. Wooooo.” He wiggled his fingers to imitate a spooky ghost. Natasha and I exchanged a very confused glance. “So Jane-“ An image of Jane Foster popped up. “-Oh, there she is. That’s Jane… she’s an old flame of mine. She stuck her hand inside a rock this one time… and then the Aether stuck itself inside her and she became very, very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I’m from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my mother… who’s dead.” Thor was now on the verge of tears. “Oh, and you know, Jane and I aren’t even dating anymore, these things happen, nothing lasts for ever.” Tony tried to get Thor to sit back down. “I’m not done yet, the only permanent thing in life is impermanence.” 

We all stared, very, very confused. 

“Awesome.” Tony said, trying to get Thor to sit down. “Eggs? Breakfast?”

“I’d like a Bloody Mary, thank you.” Thor replied. 

…

We had ordered Chinese takeout for lunch, and Rocket told us about the Power Stone as we ate.

“Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag.” Rocket said.

“Is that a person?” Scott asked.

“Morag is a planet.” Rocket explained. “Quill was a person.”

“A planet?” Scott asked. “Like in outer space?” 

“Oh look. It’s like a little puppy, all happy and everything.” Rocket said. He then imitated talking to a puppy. “Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space? I’ll get you to space.” 

…

Back in the planning room, Nebula talked about the Soul Stone.

“Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir.” Nebula said.

“What is Vormir?” Natasha asked, taking notes.

“A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence.” Nebula said. “It’s where… Thanos murdered my sister.” A slightly awkward silence fell in the room. 

“Not it.” Scott muttered, breaking the tension. 

…

After a whole lot of planning, we were finally ready.

“Alright.” Steve said. “We have a plan. Six Stones, three teams. One shot.” We got into our time travel suits and walked towards the Quantum Time machine. Once we were there, we stood in a circle on the glass.

“Five years ago, we lost.” Steve said. “All of us. We lost friends, we lost family, we lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the Stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we’re gonna win. Whatever it takes. Good luck.”

“He’s pretty good at that.” Rocket muttered.

“Right?” Scott replied. 

“Alright, you heard the man.” Tony said. “Stroke those keys, jolly green.” Bruce flicked a few switches on the control board and then walked onto the glass.

“See you in a minute.” Nat said, smiling excitedly. With that, we shrunk and entered the quantum realm. We split into our different directions.

The Time Heist had begun. 

…

I appeared in a small alleyway in New York City, 2012, right in the middle of the Avengers’ battle with the Chitauir army. Tony, Bruce, Scott, and Steve appeared next to me.

“Alright, we all have our assignments.” Steve said. “Two Stones uptown, one Stone down. Stay low, keep an eye on the clock.”

There was a loud roar, and 2012 Hulk ran into the street that we were looking at. He was mashing literally everything in his way. Bruce facepalmed, embarrassed. I realized this was the first time he had seen the Hulk from someone else’s point of view. 

“Feel free to smash a few things along the way.” Steve said. 

“I think it’s gratuitous, but whatever.” Bruce said, ripping away his shirt. He smashed things sarcastically, making an odd growling noise. He lightly punched a car and threw a motorbike at a wall, wincing as it hit.

“Come on.” I said, walking over to him. The two of us had been assigned to get the Time Stone. 

Bruce picked me up like I weighed nothing and jumped onto the nearest building. I grimaced as he jumped form building to building, all the way to the Sanctum Sanctorum. 

Bruce put me down, and I dusted myself off. I walked towards the roof door.

“I’d be careful going in that way.” Said a voice from behind us. “We just had the floors waxed.” I turned to see a bald woman in yellow robes. The Ancient One.

“Ma’am, we’re looking for Doctor Strange.” Bruce explained.

“You’re about… five years too early.” The Ancient One said. “Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery about twenty blocks that way. What do you want from him.”

“That, actually.” I said, pointing to her necklace that contained the Time Stone. 

“Ah, I’m afraid not.” She said.

“Sorry, but we weren’t asking.” Bruce said, walking towards her.

“You don’t want to do this.” She said.

“You’re right, I don’t.” Bruce replied. “But I need that Stone, and I don’t have time to beat it-“ The Ancient One pushed him back with her hand, and Bruce’s astral form came out of his body, which fell to the ground.

When she turned to me, I put my hands up in surrender. 

“You don’t need to do… that to me.” I said. “We come in peace, we just really need the Stone.” She sighed.

“Let’s start over, shall we?” She said. I nodded. Bruce was still looking around, confused in his astral form.

“Don’t worry, Doctor Banner, you are perfectly fine.” She said. “Now, please explain the situation to me.”

“We come from 2023.” I began. “In our world, Thanos snapped half the world out of existence using the Infinity Stones. We are collecting the Stones, and we’re going to fix what happened.” She contemplated it for a moment, and I held my breath. 

“I’m sorry, but I cannot.” She said. What? Why couldn’t she give it to us? Didn’t she get that the whole universe was at stake. 

She walked to the other side of the roof, and we ran after her.

“Please, please!” Bruce begged.

“I’m sorry, I cannot help you.” The Ancient One said. “If I give up the Time Stone to help your reality, I’m dooming my own.”

“With all due respect, I’m not sure the science really supports that.” Bruce said. The Ancient One created a projection with a long gold ray that simulated the flow of time.

“The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time.” She said. “Remove one Stone and that flow splits.” She flicked the Time Stone off of the projection, and a black stream flowed from the gold one. “Now, this may benefit your reality, but my new one… not so much. In this new branched reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world will be overrun. Millions will suffer. So, tell me, Doctor, can your science prevent all that?”

“No,” Bruce said. “But we can erase it. Because once we are done with the Stones, we can return each on to its own timeline at the moment it was taken. So, chronologically, it never left.”

“But you are leaving out the most important part.” The Ancient One said, unconvinced. “In order to return the Stones, you have to survive.” 

“We will, I will.” Bruce said. “I promise.”

“I can’t risk this reality on a promise.” She said. “It is the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone.”

“Then why the hell did Strange give it away?” I asked. She looked shocked.

“What did you say?” She said.

“Strange, he gave it away.” I emphasized. “He gave it to Thanos.”

“Willingly?” She asked.

“Yes.” Bruce and I said at the same time. 

“Why?” She asked.

“I have no idea.” Bruce said. “Maybe he made a mistake.”  
“Or I did.” She whispered. With a wave of her hand, Bruce’s Hulk body flew over, and Bruce’s astral form went back inside his body. She then held the Time Stone in her hand.

“Strange is meant to be the best of us.” She said.

“So he must have done it for a reason.” I concluded. 

“I fear you might be right.” She said, handing Bruce the Time Stone. 

“Thank you.” I said. She faced me, and I saw an odd green light in her eyes.

“Once you let go, you will discover the true power inside of you.” She said. Her eyes returned back to their normal color. 

What did that mean? My true power?

“I’m counting on you.” She said. “We all are.” 

We activated our Quantum Suits and flew through time, back to the present. 

We all stood on the glass of the Time Machine. I looked around, seeing the recovered Stones. Thor had somehow gotten Mjolnir back as well, which made me smile. A little piece of the past. 

“Did we get them all?” Bruce asked.

“You’re telling me this’ll actually work?” Rhodey said, smiling. I surveyed the room, my eyes sweeping the circle. 

Then I landed on the empty spot where Natasha had been standing. 

“Clint, where’s Nat?” Bruce asked. 

His silence was our answer.


	22. The Reverse Snap

She was the first one who trusted me. 

She never doubted me, not once. She knew exactly what to do in every single situation. She was so brave, kind, focused, smart, and loyal. I thought nothing could stop her. Even now, I was still holding onto the hope that she was still here.

But Natasha Romanoff was dead, as she wasn’t coming back. 

I don’t even remember how I reacted when I found out. When my anger subsided there was evidence of my blasts all over. I ended up in some abandoned area of the compound.

Once the anger was gone, grief took over. I cried until there were no more tears left in me. 

Nat was like the older sister I never had. Throughout all my successes and failures, throughout my struggles, she was always there. 

And then, suddenly she wasn’t. 

I wiped the tears from my eyes and straightened up. We had the Stones. We could bring everyone back. 

She sacrificed herself for this. It was time to make it mean something.

…

We all stood around the glove, with the Infinity Stones in place. 

“Alright.” Rocket said. “The glove’s ready. Question is, who’s gonna snap their freaking fingers.”

“I’ll do it!” Thor said, moving towards the glove. We all protested and pushed him back. 

“Wait wait, Thor, just wait.” Steve said hurriedly. “We haven’t decided who’s gonna put that on yet.”

“I’m sorry. What we’re just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?” Thor asked.

“We should at least discuss it.” Scott insisted.

“No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back.” Thor said. “I’m the strongest Avenger, okay? So the responsibility falls upon me. It’s my duty.”

“It’s not about that-“ Tony explained, but Thor shushed him.

“It’s not that- Stop it!” He said. “Just let me do it. Just let me do something good, something right.”

“Look, it’s not just the fact that the glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I’m telling you, you’re in no condition.”

“What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?” Thor asked.

“Cheez Whiz?” I muttered. Thor glared at me.

“Lightning.” He said.

“Lightning won’t yelp you, pal.” Bruce said. “It’s gotta be me. You saw what those Stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive.”  
“How do we know you will?” Steve asked.

“We don’t.” Bruce replied. “But the radiation is mostly gamma. It’s like… I was made for this.” He picked up the glove.

“Good to go, yeah?” Tony asked.

“Let’s do it.” Bruce said. 

“Remember everyone Thanos snapped away five years a go and just bringing them back to now, today.” Tony said. “Don’t change anything from the last five years.”

“Got it.” Bruce said. 

We all protected ourselves, just in case. Tony, Rhodey, and Scott had their suits, Steve had his shield, and Clint was behind one of Tony’s nano-shields. I hovered a few blasts in front of me, effectively creating an energy shield. 

“FRIDAY, do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol.” Tony said. Immediately, the compound went on complete lockdown in case something went wrong. 

“Everybody comes home.” Bruce muttered. The glove expanded to fit his hand, and he put it on. 

Immediately, a huge power surge flowed over him, and he yelled in pain.

“Take it off!” Thor shouted. “Take it off!”

“No, wait!” Steve said. “Bruce, are you okay?”  
“Talk to me, Banner.” Tony said. 

“I’m okay.” Bruce gasped. “I’m okay.” He yelled, fighting through the pain…

He brought his fingers together and snapped his fingers. 

He fainted and collapsed to the floor. The glove slid off his hand, and Clint kicked it away. We surrounded Bruce, and the was slowly regaining consciousness. 

“Don’t move him.” Tony said, spraying something on Bruce’s wounded arm. 

“Did it work?” Steve asked. 

Did it? Did we bring them back. 

Suddenly, a shadow fell over us. I looked up to the the Sanctuary II, Thanos’s ship bearing over us. A single missal came flying at us, with many more following. 

The missiles hit the base, and everything was flung into chaos. Sections of the ground sank, plunging people underground. I blasted away falling debris, all the while trying desperately to get out of there.

A piece of flying rubble hit me squarely in the chest, and I went flying back. As I was trying to get back up, the ground I was standing on crumbled, and I fell into the abyss below. 

I flailed my hands, desperately trying to grab onto something and stop my fall. My left hand curled around smooth, round metal.

I looked up and saw that I had grabbed a pipe. The ground where I had been standing was at least ten feet up.

I tried to climb up the pipe, but it was too slippery for me to climb. I scanned the area telepathically, but I couldn’t sense anyone nearby.

Then I made the mistake of looking down. 

I couldn’t even see the ground, just a thick silver mist. I was certain that if I fell, I would die.

“Help!” I yelled. “Somebody help!” It was no use. Nobody was coming. I just hoped that everyone was still alive. 

I took a deep breath. There had to be a way out of this. 

The Ancient One’s words filled my head: Once you let go, you will discover the true power inside of you. I nearly laughed. She meant that literally. 

I closed my eyes and let go of the pipe. 

I free fell through the air, tumbling, shrouded by the mist. Fear shot through me. What if I was wrong? What if nothing would happen. 

Just when I thought I was about to die, I felt an odd sensation. Opening my eyes, I saw a purple aura around me. I looked down and saw the ground a few feet away.

I was flying. 

I shot up, my light following. My blasts felt more powerful than ever, their destructive capabilities heightened. 

I burst into the sky, and saw the sight that awaited me. 

On one side, there was Thanos and his army of Outriders, Chitauri, and Sakaarans. But that wasn’t what interested me. 

On the other side, there were thousands of portals open. Heroes poured out of them. Avengers, Guardians, Wakandans, Asgardians, sorcerers, and more. 

The best part was, the people who had been snapped were here.

Wanda hovered a few inches off the ground, her powers blazing. She was alive, they were all alive. 

I turned my gaze towards the front of the army, where Steve was holding Mjolnir like it weighed nothing. He had been worthy the whole time. 

I heard a rumble, and Scott (grown to a huge size) emerged, carrying Bruce, Rhodey and Rocket. I soared over to our side, landing on the front line.

“Avengers!” Steve shouted. “Assemble.” 

I grinned as we charged into battle. This was our second chance, and we were not going to screw it up.


	23. The Endgame

I flew into the battle, my mind only focused on getting this right. I landed in the center of a horde of Outriders. They could barely fight me before. Now, with this newfound power, defeating them was easy. Rays of light erupted from me, completely obliterating them. 

I searched the battlefield for Thanos with vengeance in mind. Before I could find him, a whole swarm of Thanos’s army rushed at me. I guessed that they had figured out that I was not someone to be overlooked. 

I held them off as best as I could, but even the “New Piper” couldn’t hold them all off. 

“Um, a little help hear please!” I shouted to no one in particular. Help came in the form of Wanda’s telekinesis, blasting the aliens away. 

Man, she was a sight for sore eyes. 

After five years of her being dead, I didn’t even know what to say. I tried to form the sentences, but they just wouldn’t come.

“I-“ I tried to say, but nothing could explain what I was feeling at that moment. Joy and relief, anger and sadness, powerful and weak. 

Instead of words, I embraced her in a bone crushing hug. I knew there was a battle raging around us, but if we were going to die, I wanted to hug my little sister one last time. 

“Time to be a hero.” I grumbled, finding my voice. Wanda laughed. With a newfound energy, I flew right back into the battle. 

In front of me, I saw Clint fighting off the army and holding the Gauntlet, which in turn held the Stones. I could tell he was being overpowered by the sheer number of forces coming after him. 

“Clint!” I shouted. He glanced my way, and I motioned for him to throw the Gauntlet into the sky. He looked at me like I was crazy, but he did it anyways. I flew into the air and caught the Gauntlet in my hands, and I flew away.

The first shot blew right past me, but the second one hit my foot, and I faltered, falling to the ground. The bulk of Thanos’s army converged towards me. As powerful as I had become, I couldn’t hold them all off.

“Piper!” A voice said. I turned and saw T’Challa. “Give it to me.” I happily handed the Gauntlet off to him and flew past the oncoming aliens, blasting them from above. 

I continued fighting until, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar red glow. I turned to the sight that awaited me.

Wanda. Fighting Thanos. 

He seemed to have the upper hand, too. He pushed her down with his double-bladed sword. She held it off as best as she could, but Thanos was strong. 

He had taken her from me once. I was not going to let him do it again.

I flew at full speed towards him, knocking him back. He looked up at me, shocked.

“Hey asshole.” I said as I completely incinerated his oh-so-powerful sword. Wanda took this opportunity to raise Thanos up in the air with her telekinesis. Using the full force of her power, she began to crush him.

I joined in, blasting him with all my effort. I hovered above Wanda, concentrating all my power on Thanos. 

I enjoyed seeing him in pain. And deep down, that scared me more than anything. 

“Rain… fire!” Thanos shouted. 

“But sire, our troops!” Corvus Glaive exclaimed. 

“Just… do it!” Thanos yelled. Cannons appeared out fo the spaceship and fired on the battlefield. I tried to blast them away, but there were just too many of them.

Wanda put up an energy shield, but even that couldn’t stop the missiles from being fired at us. 

Suddenly, they all aimed towards the sky and started shooting at something else.

“Huh?” Was all I could manage to say. “What is that?”

I got my answer when Carol Danvers burst out of the clouds and flew through Thanos ship, causing it to explode.   
Reinforcements had arrived. 

She flew down to Peter Parker, who was holding the Infinity Gauntlet. Behind her, Thanos’s forces prepared to attack. 

I flew towards her, and I saw some of the others doing the same. I landed with grace next to Wanda, Okay, Valkyrie, and the other female heroes. I wasn’t sure why it was just women, and it seemed very cliche, but I didn’t much care at the moment. 

The only one missing was Natasha. 

This was for her. I am an Avenger, and she will be avenged. 

I charged into the fight, feeling more powerful than I ever had. I flew into the sky to meet a few Leviathans. I blasted right through them. 

Carol, meanwhile, flew through the army, Gauntlet in hand. Thanos ran to stop her, but Pepper, Hope van Dyne, and I blasted him back. 

Just as she was about to enter the Quantum Realm Tunnel, Thanos threw his new sword at the van, destroying it. Carol was blasted back, and the Gauntlet fell to the ground. 

Thor, Tony, and Steve charged at Thanos, trying to get the Gauntlet away from him. And, for a minute, they were succeeding. Until Thanos overpowered all three of them, and they were flung aside. 

My turn. 

I flew at Thanos, full force. He didn’t see me coming, and he was thrown back. He charged, using his sword to block my blasts. 

That’s when I realized: This was not the Thanos I fought in 2018. This Thanos was far more ruthless, and he learned from his predecessor’s mistakes. 

He was more powerful, too.

He knocked me aside, slamming me into the ground. I tried to bring up a blast, but I was too dazed.

“I was too soft on you all before.” Thanos growled, raising his sword. “I should have killed you all.” I brought up my hands as he went in for the kill, but the blow never came. Instead, Carol blasted him back. Unfortunately, this put him right next to the Gauntlet. 

Grinning, he put it on. 

Carol charged at him before he could snap. He tried to shake her off, but she was just too powerful. 

Eventually, realizing that he couldn’t win, he pulled the Power Stone from the Gauntlet and blasted her back. 

Suddenly, Tony was there, attacking Thanos, pulling at the Gauntlet. Thanos simply punched him away and raised the Gauntlet.

We had failed. Again.

“I am inevitable.” Thanos said, raising his arm. I flinched as he snapped, but the only thing that happened was a metallic clink. He turned the Gauntlet over. The Stones were missing.

Tony raised his own arm, the Stones on his own Gauntlet. Radiation flowed over him, but he fought through the pain.

“And I am Iron Man.”


	24. The Aftermath

There’s an empty feeling that comes with knowing we won at the cost of others’s lives. 

Natasha. Tony. More and more people fighting against Thanos’s army. 

Tony snapped his fingers, causing Thanos and all of his forces to turn to dust. He died from his wounds shortly afterwards. 

So, the world started putting itself back together. Celebrations were held in every country, even Sokovia. 

Wanda and I sat on a grassy hill just outside of the city. Fireworks were blazing above us, but that was not why we were there. 

In front of us, there were three graves. One for our father. One for our mother. One for our brother. 

We sat there, in silence, mourning but celebrating at the same time. I don’t remember when I started to cry, but once I did, there was no stopping it.

Saving the world had a price. It always has, it always will. 

…

A few days later, we attended Tony Stark’s funeral. 

Tony’s family along with a few others were watching a holographic message that he left behind. The rest of us waited outside.

Pepper stepped out of the house, carrying a wreath. On top of the wreath was Tony’s very first Arc Reactor. She set it down on the lake, and it floated away.

And me? Who am I? Who had I become?

Hero. Enhanced. Savior. Experiment. Sacrifice.

Avenger.


End file.
